Secrets
by LittleRed00000
Summary: Being in the wrong place at the wrong time leaves an orphaned teen pregnant and alone. Unaware of this, Tony Stark takes her in as his own. How will he react when he discovers her secret? And will he be able to keep her safe when there's a murderer after her? How will he react when he finds out who she really is?
1. Prologue

Tony POV

I parked my car outside of the "Home for girls" orphanage. Fury had asked me to meet him here.

"Why on earth would I want to go there!" I yelled into the phone when I got the call.

"I'll explain everything when you get here" Was Fury's answer before he hung up.

I never wanted kids. I had no use for them. They were a handful, bratty, trouble and I did not need to deal with that.

I walked into the orphanage and greeted the young man sitting at the front desk.

"Do you have an appointment sir?" He asked me.

"Yes. I'm here to meet Nick Fury."

"Right this way" He led me down the hall, into a room.

In the room, was a least a dozen beds, all were filled with sleeping girls.

"Over here Stark" Fury's voice came from behind me.

I turned to see Fury sitting in a large chair.

And this I could not believe.

On Fury's lap, was a little girl. She had to be no older than two. She was very tiny compared to him.

"Stark, I'd like you to meet Antonia Maria Cortex. Hey little one. This going to your Daddy." he said as the toddler looked up at me, her deep blue eyes sparkling.

"Hold on." I was completely caught off guard. "You want me to adopt her?

"Stark-" Fury began but I cut him off.

"You know how I feel about kids. I can't take care of one, and with my work, who will watch her while I'm gone? And-"

"We have all of that arranged. Someone will be there to look after her while you work or need to go on a mission."

Who cares if everything's arranged, I still had no use for kids.

"Fury" I looked him dead in the eye "No"

Just then, the little girl, er, Antonia, leaped down from Fury's lap and toddled over to me. She wrapped her tiny arms around my leg and looked up at me, smiling.

I couldn't help but smile back.

I had to admit it, she was adorable. She had long wavy black hair, deep blue eyes, rosy cheeks, I might just take her home.

"I'll have to think about it" I said to Fury after he had put Antonia to bed. I stood there, watching her sleep. She was curled up in a way that made me want to pick her up a cuddle her. I gently touched her cheek, she put her tiny hand over mine.

"I'd knew you'd comply sooner or later. I can't thank you enough. I really need someone to take care of her. She'll be be here when your ready for her." Fury gave me a slap on the back.

I grabbed my keys and headed out the door.

On the flight home, I began thinking. Why was Fury so urgent for me to take in this little girl? I figured she was in danger. But who would hurt someone so innocent and so sweet?

And why did Fury want me to raise her? Me. Out of all seven billion people in the world. Why me?

"Good evening Sir" J.A.R.V.I.S greeted me when I got home.

"Pull up all the information you can find under the name of Cortex." I sat down on a stool in my lab.

"Yes Sir" replied the A.I. "There seems to be nothing available. Except for the fact that they were once agents on the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division'."

They were S.H.I.E.L.D agents. That explained a lot.

Whenever one of the agents had a child, the entire S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters went to great lengths to make sure these kids were safe.

I had never joined but always knew what was going on. But I never heard of an agent Mr. & Mrs. Cortex. I had never heard anyone even talk about them before.

Now I was going to take care of their kid? Was I ever going to find out who they were?


	2. Chapter 1

-Fifteen years later-

I had been several months since Fury had put together the team known as the Avengers and at least three months had past since we all had to fight the aliens in New York. Now we were all living at Stark tower. I was starting to call it Avengers tower. We were like a family. But lately I've had this weird feeling. Something was missing in this picture.

I could not think of what it could be. I had everything. I had Pepper, I had the rest of the team. What could it be? Then I remembered Fury had asked me to take in a little girl. But that was fifteen years ago.

With everything going on, The Ten rings, the Hammoroid attack, and now the whole alien and wormhole thing, I had completely forgotten about her.

"Why are you still up?" Pepper snapped me back into reality.

"Oh, um, I was just thinking" I said quickly.

"What could you be thinking about that would keep you up so late. It must be important" she sat down next to me on the couch.

"Yeah. Well it can wait."

"Tony. If it's that important than we need to talk about it." she said as she rubbed my neck.

"OK. A few years ago, Fury asked me if I was willing to adopt this little girl. Of course my answer was no. I gave her no thought after that. Now I have the feeling like something's missing in my life and so I've been trying to fill in that gap. I thought having everyone move in here would do the job. But it didn't. So I married you, and I still have that feeling like something is missing in my life." I said. "I think it's time we started a family."

"You want to have a baby!?" Pepper asked excitedly

"It's already been taken care of." I said "I'm going to go and adopt the girl Fury introduced to me."

Pepper seemed confused. "You mean, you actually want to adopt instead of you and I starting a family?"

"Pepper, one day I would love to have a baby with you. But this girl has waited fifteen years for me. I think it's time I made true to my promise."

"OK" Pepper sighed. "When do you plan on bringing her here?"

"I'll go get her right now." I said jumping up and grabbing my keys.

"Tony, it is three in the morning! She'll be sleeping."

"Well I guess she'll have to wake up then." I pulled on a jacket. It was late December, and was -2 degrees outside.

"Don't you think you should wait until later on? When everyone is up so we can tell them?" Pepper asked.

"Get her room ready, Pep. The one next to ours." I said as I stepped into the elevator.

00

Pepper stood in the living room. Tony had just left to adopt a girl. She figured that there was nothing she could say or do to stop him. So she went upstairs and prepared the bedroom for their adopted daughter. She changed the sheets and made the bed, and vacuumed and dusted and cleaned up the bathroom and stocked it with everything a teenage girl would need. She would also need some clothes. Pepper went online and bought just about every piece of clothing a teenage girl might like.

"What's going on, and why are you up at three in the morning?" Steve said groggily from the doorway.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I wake you?" Pepper asked.

"Kind of, we heard the vacuum and was wondering why you were cleaning up so early in the morning." Natasha said as she and Clint appeared at Steve's side.

"Well, Tony has done a lot of crazy things in the past, but I think what he is doing now has to be the worst." Pepper said "He's gonna go adopt a child."

"Why?" Banner asked, joining them in the doorway "I thought he didn't want kids."

"Apparently, he has changed his mind. Now this is gonna be her room and I might need a little bit of help." Pepper went back to work in the bedroom.

Everyone else was helping her. The clothes Pepper ordered came, and she and Natasha were busy organizing them. Clint, Bruce, and Steve organized the bedroom furniture.

Soon the room was done.

"Now all we have to do is wait for Tony to get back." Bruce said taking a seat in the living room. Pepper made coffee and they all sat around and waited.


	3. Chapter 2

Tony POV

When I pulled into the orphanage, I started having last minute jitters.

Was I nervous about becoming a Dad?

I was.

I was shaking. I did not want to be like my dad, who I never really had a good relationship with.

I kept think about the girl I was supposed to adopt. Was she going to be happy living with me? Not only me, but how was she going to be with the team. How were they going to be with her?

I pushed those thoughts aside. Whatever happens, I'm going to have to work with it. I had already called Fury and told him I was going to take her in.

There was no going back now.

I stepped out of the car, and drug myself in.

Toni POV

I was getting a good nights sleep, warm under the covers during that cold night when Mr. Sims, the caretaker, began shaking me awake.

"Get up Toni. I have something to tell you!" He said.

"What is it?" I asked groggily, turning over to face him. I didn't know if it was just me, or did he seemed really excited? I couldn't really tell because the room was dark.

"It finally happened. You've been adopted! Pack your things and be downstairs in ten minutes." He said as he left the room.

The light came on and the room erupted in cheers and I found myself leaped upon by my best friend, Evangeline.

"Aren't you excited?!" she all but screamed in my ear. "You finally get to get out of this place. Forever!" she squealed again.

I shoved her off and started to pack my things. The girls quieted down and watched me, kind of confused as to why I wasn't joining in their excitement.

"What's the matter, Toni? This is what every kid in this place dreams about. Aren't you the least bit happy?" Stacy asked.

I zipped up my bag. "Yeah guys, I'm glad I get to finally have a family and all. But..."

"But what?" Jeni asked.

"It doesn't feel real." I sat down on my bed. "I've been in this place longer that any of you. This is pretty much my home now. After I turned about twelve, I gave up hope of ever becoming adopted. I made do here. And now it's finally happening, I'm leaving."

"Is it nerves? That's what happens to all of us. Starting over always feels like this. Not knowing what to expect and all that, it's normal." Evangeline sat down on the bed next to me. "I suggest you start getting over that. Now."

She was right, my ten minutes were just about up.

I slid off the bed, grabbed my bag, and gave all my friends a hug goodbye before leaving the room. I met Mr. Sims and he led me down the hall.

Just before I reached the front desk, I realised that I was still in my pajamas, I didn't feel like going back and getting dressed. It was like four in the morning. What lunatic would come and adopt a kid that early in the morning? I got my answer when I reached the lobby.

Tony POV

I waiting for Sims to come back with the girl who was going to be my daughter.

I was anxious about meeting this girl nicknamed Toni.

Huh, just like my name, except spelled with an i, instead of a y. I had to think of a different nickname for her.

A few minutes later, Sims appeared in the hallway, and behind him, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, was the girl who was now my daughter.

"Toni. I'd like you to meet Mr. Stark." Sims said, gesturing towards me.

The girl stepped forward. "Pleasure to meet you Sir." She said sleepily.

"Nice to meet you too, Toni. Let me take that for you." She smiled when I said her nickname and handed me her bag. "Well, I suggest we get you home. So you can go back to bed. In your own bedroom."

"Cool." she she said with a yawn as I led her to the front door.

She shivered once we stepped outside. I noticed that she was still in her pajamas, which was not appropriate for this type of weather.

"Here." I said, taking off my jacket and putting it around her.

"Thanks." she said softly.

She stopped dead when she saw my car, a silver Audi.

"What's the matter?" I asked, holding the passenger seat door open for her. "Come on, it's OK."

Toni shook her head. "It's too fancy".

"There's no such thing." I took her hand and gently pulled her into the car. She sat down real careful and I shut the door. I walked over to the drivers seat and got in and started the car.

"You're going to love it a Stark tower, Toni. And guess who you're going to meet?" I waited for her reaction, but she had fallen asleep.

Well she could meet them when she got there.

I pulled out of the parking lot and drove my daughter home.

00

I had to shake Toni awake once we got to Stark tower. She had slept the whole ride home.

"Come on, you gotta wake up." I said gently shaking her.

I opened the passenger seat door.

"Hey, we're home!" I said gleefully.

She groaned unhappily as I pulled her out of the car.

I let her lean against me as we walked into the lobby and into the elevator.

"Good morning Sir. And guest." J.A.R.V.I.S's said over the A.I, making Toni jump and glance around nervously.

"That's J.A.R.V.I.S." I explained. "He runs things around here."

Toni just nodded.

When we reached our floor, she didn't even look around, she just laid down on the couch and was asleep within minutes.

Just then Pepper and the rest of the team came in.

"This is the girl you wanted to adopt? She's beautiful." gushed Pepper and went to stroke Toni's hair.

"I had no idea you would get a teenager. I think that's pretty brave." Bruce said.

"You said her name was Toni? How are you going to know if we are calling her or you?" Natasha asked.

"We're working on that." I said.

We all just stood around, watching my daughter sleep. She seemed so peaceful. Before we knew it, we had been standing there for at least an hour, just watching her.

"Well I think I'm gonna go back to bed." Steve said as he headed to his room.

The others did the same until it was just me and my daughter.

I was thinking about going to bed myself, but I couldn't make myself do that.

So I sat down on the couch, pulled Toni onto my lap, her head in the crook of my arm. I pulled a blanket on her and gently stroked her cheek and ran my fingers through her hair.

I could not stop looking at her, it was hard to believe she was actually mine.

I was a Dad.


	4. Chapter 3

Toni POV

When I woke up later that morning, something felt different. The first thing I realised was that I was strangely cosy. I also heard is weird hum in the left ear.

Last thing I remembered was that I had been adopted and taken to my new home. But by who?

I turned my head to see this blue light shining in my eyes.

Through the light, I saw the famous Tony Stark.

This was who adopted me? This was a lot more than I expected.

I realised that the hum and blue light were from his arc reactor.

Question: Why was I so close to him? I could feel him breathing and everything.

I shifted to get more comfortable, that's when I realised that I was laying in his arms!

I had just met this guy!

I managed to escape Tony's embrace, he didn't wake up much to my relief. I looked around the house. It was still dark but from what I could see it was really nice. Much nicer that the orphanage. I was going to live here now.

I found a set of stairs, I'm guessing led to the bedrooms. I went down a dark hallway and found several bedroom doors. All of them were shut, except one.

I peeked inside, and found a sign on the night stand that read: "Reserved for Toni"

This was my new bedroom. It was huge! I had my own bathroom, T.V, stereo system, everything I could ever want. I might be happy here.

It climbed into bed. The bed was really cosy. I am going to love it here. My friends are going to be so jealous.

Tony POV

I woke up later that morning, kind of dazed. There was a blanket on my lap, I never slept with a blanket on the couch. Why was it here? I was guessing Pepper put it on me. But what was I doing that I ended up falling asleep on the couch?

I saw my bag by the door, it had papers sticking out of it, probably for work. But when I looked at them, they definitely were not from Stark Industries.

They said: "Home for girls adoption file."

Home for girls? That was an orphanage. Why would I have these?

I read further and came across a girl named Antonia Maria Stark.

Great name, but she couldn't have been mine. I don't have any kids.

Below that said: "Legal guardian: Anthony Edward Stark."

So I did have a kid. A daughter. I must have adopted her and totally forgot.

I went upstairs to the bedrooms, one of the doors was open a crack. I peeked in and saw a girl sleeping in the bed, covers pulled up to her chin.

This had to be her. That meant she was my daughter.

I walked over to the bed an gently kissed her. She moaned and stirred a bit in her sleep.

I looked at the clock, 7:30am.

I had a meeting to attend in about an hour. I went to go get dressed.

Pepper was already up and dressed by the time I got to our bedroom.

"How is she?" Pepper asked after we had our "Good morning" kiss.

"She's still sleeping." I said as I changed into my work clothes.

"Hey Pep"

"Yes" she said, turning to me.

"Do you think that we could Skype them meeting today?" I asked

"What. Why?" She asked very confused.

"I don't...think it would make a difference. We're there either way" I said shrugging my shoulders.

"What is it?" Pepper came over to me. "What's the matter?"

She had her way of getting answers out of me, I had no way around it.

"I don't want to leave Toni!" I exclaimed.

"She'll be just fine, the team is here, and J.A.R.V.I.S. She'll be safe as the president" Pepper said gleefully.

She clearly did not understand.

"Don't tell me your that attached to her already!" She could read me almost as good as Natasha.

"OK. If you say so" I had brought my daughter home only a few hours ago and I did not want her to be alone.

But Pepper was right, she had plenty of people here for her.

But there was one person we had forgotten about.

"Well you two are certainly in a worrisome mood today." a voice from the hallway said.

We both turned to see Pepper's nineteen-year-old nephew, Jason, standing in our doorway. After his parents died when he was six, Pepper took him in. He's been like a son to me.

"Hey Jason. I'm sure you heard that I adopted a girl. And Pepper and I have meetings to attend to and I was kind of uncomfortable with the fact that I was leaving her home." I said quickly.

"Don't worry, she'll be just fine. I won't let anyone hurt her." Jason said

I felt a bit better about leaving Toni home. But what would she think when she got up and found that she was home with a teenage boy?

00

"Tony!" Pepper called from downstairs, "We're going to be late!"

I was in Toni's room, kissing her goodbye. I left a note for her on her nightstand.

"I'll see you later baby." I said softly before I left the room.


	5. Chapter 4

Toni POV

The sunlight streamed through my windows. I turned toward it. My room had a breathtaking view of the city. It was covered in snow.

"How beautiful." I whispered.

I started to crawl out of bed when something on my nightstand caught my eye. It was a note.

It read:

"Good morning Toni. Hope you are liking to your room and, Hey! How do you like the view? Pepper and I had meetings to attend, so we won't be home till later this evening. In the meantime, Jason, J.A.R.V.I.S, dum-e, U, and Butterfingers, and the rest of the team will be there if you need anything.

Have fun, and stay out of trouble.

Tony/Dad."

I giggled at Tony's humor. I set the note down and headed downstairs. I was still in my pajamas from the orphanage and my hair was a mess, but I didn't care.

When I reached the bottom step, I saw a boy, with blonde hair sitting on the couch, he looked maybe, nineteen, twenty at the most. He was watching T.V. and didn't notice me coming in.

"You must be Jason." I said as I walked toward the couch.

The boy looked up. "Yes that's me. You must be Toni."

"Yes. That's me. Do you live here?" I was trying to make conversation.

"Yes, I do live here." he went back to his show.

"Are you hungry? Do you want me to make you breakfast?" I asked as I headed to the kitchen.

Jason groaned and rolled his eyes. "You ask a lot of questions."

"OK I'll leave you alone now." I said as I went into the kitchen.

I started to search through the cabinets. I found some waffle mix. Where will the waffle maker be? There were so many cub boards in this kitchen.

"J.A.R.V.I.S?" I called out.

"Yes Miss Toni?" replied the A.I.

"Does Tony have a waffle maker? I asked.

"In the cub board in front of you." replied the A.I.

"Thanks" I said as I retrieved it. It was a fancy one too. The one I always saw in magazines. I plugged it in and mixed the ingredients together using this fancy mixer. I added a few chocolate chips to the mix.

Good thing Mr. Sims had taught all of us girls how to cook or else this kitchen would be a mess by now.

The light on the waffle maker came on. I opened it and poured the batter in.

Within a few minutes, they were done.

I put two on a plate for me, and two on another for Jason.

"Hm, these need something else" I muttered to myself.

I knew just what it was.

I went to the freezer and got out the ice cream. I piled it on the waffles, topping it off with whipped cream, chocolate syrup, chocolate chips, and sprinkles.

Now this was breakfast.

"You hungry Jason?" I asked as I set the plates on the table. I'm guessing the answer to that question was "yes" because he got up from the couch and came over to join me at the table.

I was enjoying my waffles when I looked up to see Jason staring at his.

"I don't think Pepper would approve of this." He said

"Then this will be our little secret." I said

Jason took a taste of the ice cream. His blue eyes lit up, and he devoured everything on his plate in almost one go.

I stared at him. I was both impressed/disgusted by that.

After he finished his, Jason went for mine!

"Hey, those are mine!" I said pushing him away. But then I felt bad.

"Take em." I said pushing my plate in his direction.

His eyes lit up again, and he ate my waffles, just as greedily.

"I see no one taught you any manners." I said laughing.

Jason ignored me.

I walked into the kitchen to clean my mess. But to my surprise, there were three robots in there already cleaning up. One of them came and picked up the dirty dish in front of me.

"You must be Dum-e." said, taking a seat and watching them.

The robot stopped, and turned toward me and beeped a few times. I was kind of surprised, I did not expect it to answer me.

"Oh nothing." I said and Dum-e continued to work with the other two robots, Butterfingers and U.

I went back into the living room and looked around for Jason, he had resumed his show.

"Hey if you need me, I will be beautifying myself."

"OK" Jason said, not looking away from the T.V.

I headed upstairs to my room.

After I showered, I turned on the stereo system. It played one of my favorite songs came on, "Cinema" by Skrillex. Perfect. I turned it up to the max and I jammed out while doing by hair and makeup, singing along. This was the most fun I ever had while getting dressed.

I headed to the closet to pick out what to where. There were so many tops, jeans, skirts, and dresses to chose from. Somebody obviously went shopping for me.

I decided go simple, I put on some flare jeans and a strapless printed shirt. It may have been cold outside but it sure was warm inside.

I turned off the music. That's when heard a crash. Then I heard gun shots and grunting.

"Jason." I said

I hurried downstairs.

Was he hurt? I sure hoped not.

Was he the one doing this? He did not seem like the the destructive type.

I reached the bottom step. I was not prepared for what I saw.


	6. Chapter 5

Toni POV

When I reached the bottom step, I turned to see Jason standing in the middle of the room, a gun in his hand. Several men on the ground, bleeding.

Jason caught sight of me.

"Come here, come here" he urgently whispered, gesturing for me to come toward him.

When I reached him, he told me to stay close. I could hear his pulse racing, he was sweating and panting.

So was I, I was just as afraid.

Shots were fired and Jason shoved me out of the way. A little too hard and I lost my balance and hit the floor.

I heard more gunfire that made me want to cover my ears and scream.

Jason landed on the floor beside me. But he wasn't moving.

I checked for a pulse. He had one, he was still alive.

"Just where did you come from?" A voice above me said. I looked up to see armed gunman standing in front of me. Dressed in black, a death symbol on his shirt.

He had his gun raised, aimed at me, ready to fire.

I felt powerless.

"Scared are we?" He asked me, his weapon still aimed.

I was.

Tony was going to come home and find both me and Jason, dead.

I could not let this man kill us. I had to fight back, but with what?

I heard Jason wince in pain, I felt something cold touch my arm. I turned my head and saw Jason handing me his gun. I took it and sprinted across the room. The gunman was on me in a second.

Stupid move, I know, but he was away from Jason, who had went completely limp.

"Bad idea little one" he snickered, "It may cost your life but," he lowered his weapon and aimed it at Jason. "Why don't we watch him die before I deal with you huh?"

"No!" I screamed. I jumped up and fired the gun.

I was aiming at his leg but instead, the bullet back through his back and he fell to the floor: Dead.

I stood there, shocked over what I had done. I had never even imagined of ever killing anyone. Not even my worst enemy. I heard footsteps coming down the hall. I also heard shouting. I grabbed the man's gun and stood in the middle of the room, my body being between the door and Jason.

More men did arrive. All of them just like the gunman.

I could not imagine killing anyone again so I made a mental note to aim for the leg or arm.

I shot all of the men, just injuring them and kicking away their weapons.

The last man had to be one of the toughest. He took a leap toward me, weapons drawn. I jumped out of the way. He landed on the floor, back to me. I kicked him on the back of the knee, I heard a crunch and the man fell to the ground.

I put my foot on his back, gun poised above his head.

"Don't move and I might let you live." I threatened.

Where was this team Tony mentioned in his note? I could use them right about now.

00

Steve, Clint, Natasha, and Bruce were in the Avengers living room just one floor down.

They heard the commotion upstairs.

"What is going on up there?" Natasha asked

They pulled up the surveillance and saw Stark's daughter, Toni with Jason's gun, she had it poised right above a guys head.

Clint recognized them.

"That's Castle's men." He said

Frank Castle, the Punisher.

"We have to get up there, he could be here any minute." Steve said urgently.

They all got suited up and headed upstairs.

Except Bruce, they were afraid that he might hulk out and scare Toni. And he went to call Fury.

"What if she mistakes us for Castle's men?" Clint asked

"We'll have to calm her down until she lets go of the gun." Steve said as they reached the top step.

Toni POV

I was still on the guy, when the now badly damaged door opened again.

My eyes did not leave the man on the ground.

Whoever was here must not be here to hurt me, they moved toward me with caution.

"Toni" one of them said, it sounded like a woman's voice. "You can put that down now, we got him" she said.

So much was going that I didn't notice the how sweaty my hands were from gripping the gun go hard. My heart was pounding, I was breathing hard, I wasn't sure if I could let go of the gun.

"It's OK. We got it from here." Her voice came again, more soothing this time.

I wasn't sure if I could trust them. But I decided that is was safe to take a look at who these people were.

I looked up to see a women, with curly shoulder length red hair, dressed in a skin-tight black catsuit. On her right was a rather muscular man with sandy brown hair, dressed in black, arms exposed, a bow in his hand. To her left was a taller man, dressed in red, white, and, blue. He carried a shield on his right arm.

"I'm agent Romanoff" The women with the red hair introduced herself.

I did not like the word "Agent". It made me uncomfortable.

"OK, you don't like that word?" She said

Could she read my mind?

"My name is Natasha, but Clint here calls me "Nat". She gestured toward the man to her right, the one with the bow. He gave me a tight nod, his expression unreadable.

"And this is Steve." Natasha said. I looked at the man to her left.

"Ma'am" Steve said politely. Something about him put me a ease.

I didn't realized how much adrenaline was going through my veins that once Natasha took the gun from my hands, I nearly fell over, but was steadied by Steve's strong arms. He gently lifted me up and carried me to the couch.

Once I was off the man, Clint rushed over and arrested him.

Steve was looking around the room, something like astonishment spread across his face. "You took out all of these men?" He asked looking down at me.

I nodded.

"That's rather impressive." Steve continued.

"You mean to tell me that she did all this? By herself?" Clint asked, speaking up for the first time. "Fury's going to want to hear about this! Where is he by the way?"

"He should be here any minute now" Natasha said as she went to check on Jason.

Just as she finished that sentence, the door flung open again, and dozens of men rushed in, weapons drawn.

"Clear!" One of them said and they put down their weapons and arrested the rest of the men. Some of them groaning in pain as the were lifted to their feet.

That's when a tall, African American man, dressed in black comes in.

He seemed full of power, just by how he walked. He intimidated me a bit. It didn't help that he also had an eye patch.

With him were a man and a women, also dressed in black, stern expressions on their faces. I felt like running to my room.

"Director." Natasha greeted him.

"Romanoff, Barton, Rogers" he greeted them. His one eye shifted to me curled up on the couch. "And who is this?"

"This is Stark's adoptive daughter, Toni." Steve said since I was afraid to even breath with this man staring at me.

"Toni" he said stretching his hand out toward me. I stood up and timidly shook it. "I'm director Fury, and this is Agents Coulson and Hill."

"She doesn't like that word." Natasha said.

The man seemed to get the point and took a step towards me. "Phil Coulson." he said when we shook hands. "Your dad has been talking a lot about you, it's great to finally meet you. Oh this is Maria Hill." He gestured for the woman behind him to come forward.

"Hello Toni." Maria said, her expression still stern.

"Jeez, whoever did this deserves a prize." one of the men in black said behind me as he covered the body of the man I killed. "I got to say, you guys really take your training seriously".

He thought it was Steve, Clint, and Natasha who did this.

I wanted it to stay that way, the last thing I needed was all these people congratulating me.

But Natasha spilled the beans.

"Oh no, this was all her" she said pointing to me.

The room went silent.

I looked down but I could feel everyone staring at me.

"No no no no" Coulson said. "She couldn't have. I mean look at her, wait." He took a closer look at me.

"Are you hit?" he asked.

That's when I felt blood dripping down my arm. So much had been going on that I hadn't felt it till that minute.

"Rogers, take her upstairs and take care of that cut." Fury said.

"Yes Sir" Steve replied. "Care to lead the way? he asked, looking down at me. I nodded and led him to my room.

When we got there, Steve pulled a medical kit from a cabinet in the hallway. Good thing I was had on a strapless shirt so I didn't have to undress in front of him.

Steve sat down on the bed with me. I couldn't help but notice how handsome he was.

He had golden hair, blue eyes, a handsome face and a killer smile that made me want to drop dead. The helmet he had on definitely hid that.

"Tell me a little about yourself Toni." Steve said as he cleaned the cut on my arm.

"Other that what Tony told you, I don't think there is much else" I said

"Oh, come on. There's got to be more" he started to bandage my arm, his strong hand gripping my arm and wrapping it gently with the other.

"Yeah, there's always more" I heard Coulson say. I looked up and saw that he, Clint, Natasha, Maria, and Fury had all come up to my room.

"I would personally like to know the name of the person who trained you" Couslon continued.

"Nobody trained me" I answered. "I just kind of went with instinct. I knew I had to do something"

"Well I'm sure Jason is grateful that you saved his life." Steve said with a smile.

"Jason-oh!" I jumped down from the bed and hurried to the door.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Natasha making frantic hand signals at Maria who tried to grab me but I dodged her grip and flew downstairs.

I got there in time to see paramedics lifting Jason on a stretcher. He was alive! But he was covered in bandages, which were soaked with blood.

"Jason?" I whispered, running my fingers through his blonde hair. He opened his eyes.

"Oh, hey, Toni." he said weakly.

"I thought those men killed you."

Jason chuckled a bit and grabbed my hand and gently squeezed it.

"We have to take him away now" one of the paramedics said.

"You be strong for me. You saved my life once, I need your strength to get through this." Jason gave my hand one last squeeze and I kissed him on the forehead before they took him away.

I turned around to see everyone staring at me.

"What?" I said

"Is there something going on between you two that we should know about?" Asked Clint.

"Oh no" I said.

"Are you sure?" Coulson eyed me suspiciously.

I decided to change the subject. "When's Tony going to be home?"

"Awww, do you miss daddy already?" Natasha teased, making me blush.

Tony POV

Pepper and I had just walked out of a meeting when my phone rang.

"Aww look, she misses you" Pepper cooed as I pulled my phone out.

But when I looked at the phone, I saw it wasn't Toni calling, it was Stark Tower!

Something was wrong. Toni would have used her phone to call me.

When I answered, I grew even more afraid when I heard Fury's voice coming from the phone.

"Stark, there has been an incident at Stark tower." He said

"What kind of incident? Is my daughter OK?" I asked franticly.

"It was an incident involving your daughter.." he paused. He sighed and then continued. "And ...The Punisher."


	7. Chapter 7

Tony POV

I almost dropped the phone. My legs went numb, several people rushed over to help Pepper steady me.

"What happened?" Pepper asked me.

"We have to get home." was all I said and the two of us rushed out to the car and told Happy to take us home ASAP.

For the first time ever, it seemed like the car wouldn't go fast enough.

I explained to Pepper what happened. That Toni and Jason were at the mercy of The Punisher, a coldblooded killer out to seek revenge for the murder of his family.

Fifteen years ago, he had shot and killed two of S.H.I.E.L.D's best agents, one got away injured, all of whom remained nameless.

And now my daughter was there when he attacked, I was just fearing the worst.

Toni POV

We were trying to clean up some of the mess. The door had been split in half, there was glass shatters all over the floor, place was a wreck. What would Tony think when he came home and everything was a mess?

So all of us were busy at work.

Me sweeping up glass.

Steve trying to fix the door.

Clint and Natasha were cleaning up blood stains from the floor.

Fury, Maria and Coulson salvaged what they could from the attackers and went back to HQ.

"HQ of what?" I asked

No one would tell me.

Tony POV

We jumped out of the car and raced inside once we reached the tower. I was almost tempted to take the stairs, the elevator seemed so slow.

But the stairs were closed off.

When we reached the top floor, I saw that the place was a mess.

Everyone was hard at work and didn't notice Pepper and I coming in.

I looked around for Toni. She was sweeping up glass from under the table.

I became overwhelmed with relief when I saw she was ok.

I ran up and threw my arms around her. She seemed startled by this. But she saw it was me and calmed down a bit.

"I can't thank you guys enough." I said, my arms still around Toni, her head on my chest.

"For what?" Asked Steve, as he removed the badly damaged door.

"What else?" Did I have to spell this out for them?

"If it's the Punisher your referring too, we had nothing to do with that." Natasha said from the floor. She was cleaning up blood splatters.

"What do you mean? Someone care to explain?" I looked at all of them.

Finally Clint sighed and told me. He said that they had not even been there. Castle's men had gunned down Jason and were going for her, but she used Jason's gun in self defense.

"Don't worry about the mess you guys, I'll call someone to take care of it." At that Steve and Clint headed toward the elevator.

"Well thanks, we gotta head out anyway." Natasha said, standing up and walking to the elevator with Steve and Clint.

"Oh wait." Toni said. They turned around. I watched as she pulled a gun from her back pocket and handed it to Natasha.

"Take this to Fury if you see him."

"OK thanks" Natasha said taking the gun and she walked out the with the others.

"Tony?"

"Yes princess." I said looking down at her.

"Who were those people?" She asked

"They were here to help you. They are the-" I started, but Toni cut me off.

"No no, not them. I'm talking about the people who tried to kill me and Jason."

"Uh" I looked over at Pepper. She just shook her head. "We're going to have to talk about that later. OK?"

"OK" Toni sighed, and headed off to her room.

"Why don't you want to tell her?" I asked Pepper once Toni was out of earshot.

"Because, we want her to be happy here remember? If she knew what we had to deal with, with you and with the team, all your missions, she would so afraid." Pepper said.

And she was right.

If I were in Toni's place, I would just want to live life like a normal teenager, not worrying if my dad was coming home or not. Of having to hear that my dad had been killed.

Toni must live a normal life.

And for that to happen, she must never know about her attacker, the Punisher.

She must never know what S.H.I.E.L.D is.

But most importantly, she must never know that her new family is the Avengers.

Toni POV

I was about to watch some T.V when I suddenly had to run to the bathroom. I emptied the contents of my stomach into the toilet. With all shootings and then all these mean-looking people, what a way to begin the day.

After I cleaned up, I laid down on the bed and pulled out a book.

Later that night, there was a soft knock at my door. "Come in!" I called, Pepper stepped in.

"Hey, just came to let you know that dinner is ready."

"Cool. I'm starving." I slipped off the bed and followed Pepper downstairs.

The dining room was filled with the sweet aroma of barbeque.

I saw several people at the dining room table when we came in.

I quickly recognized Tony, Steve, Clint, and Natasha.

Tony was talking to a man with messy brown hair and glasses.

"I don't think you've met Dr. Bruce Banner." Pepper noticed me staring at him.

"Dr. Banner." I said politely when we shook hands.

"Please, call me Bruce." he said with a smile.

I took the empty seat between Tony and Pepper. Everyone else was already eating.

I didn't know what to do. We never had self-serve at the orphanage.

"What are you waiting for? Dig in!" Clint said, BBQ sauce all over his hands and face.

I grabbed a few ribs. They were closest to me.

"Oh you got to get more that that!" Natasha grabbed my plate. "There you go." she set the plate back in front of me.

It was crammed with ribs, chicken, corn, just about everything on the table. More than I could ever eat.

Steve pushed a tall glass full of soda towards me.

Everyone was staring at me, waiting to see what I would do.

I started nibbling at a piece of chicken.

That seemed to satisfy them and the went back to conversing with each other.


	8. Chapter 8

Tony POV

Toni seemed to be bonding well with everyone.

She, Pepper, and I spent a lot of time together.

She was slowly becoming friends with Natasha. I think she was tad afraid of her. I didn't blame her. Natasha could be a bit fierce sometimes.

She completely ignored Clint. She said she thought he was weird. Whenever he tried to talk to her, she either walked away, turned on her iPod, or would blow him off.

I thought it was rude, but she would talk to him when she was ready.

She was forming a good relationship with Bruce, which really surprised me. I would come home and find her in the lab with him, just watching him and occasionally asking a question or two. To be honest there was no one else I'd rather her be with. Except for Pepper, but she was always working.

I also noticed that Toni and Steve started talking. I also noticed that they were starting to get close. Which was not what I wanted.

"He's too old for you!" I said to Toni one night after I caught her an Steve on the couch together.

"No he's not!" She argued back.

"Toni" I was trying hard to stay calm. I had just brought her home and was trying to bond with her. The last thing I needed her doing was dating. "You are too young to be seeing anyone"

"According to who's standards?" She folded her arms.

"Mine!" I said. I was her father!

"Fine. I'll go ask Pepper" and she left the room.

She was not one to go down easy.

After a few days, I had no choice but to give in. Everyone thought I was being mean. Clint said I was just jealous.

So now, every time I walk into the living room, I would see my daughter and Steve on the couch together either watching a movie or just talking.

It made me mad. I felt like Steve was taking her away from me. On purpose!

"What's the matter?" Pepper asked me as we were getting ready for bed one night.

"Nothing. Nothing" I said.

"Is it Toni and Steve?"

I sighed "I don't think it's fair. I'm the one who brought her home, I'm the one who's been taking care of her. I've given her everything she could ever want! And this is how she thanks me for it? By running off with Steve?"

"Oh Tony." she came over and hugged me. "That's not the way to look at this. She is at the age now where she, well, begins to crave the attention that we simply can't give to her. The only way she can get that is by forming a relationship with someone. In this case, Steve."

Perhaps Clint was right, maybe I was jealous.

"She still loves you, even though you might not see it because she is spending time with Steve." Pepper continued

"I guess I wasn't prepared for this. Well, I mean, I was, but didn't expect it to happen so quickly. What do I do?" I asked.

"Just be there for her." Pepper said. "She is going to come to you for advice, and you need to give her answers, like a Father. But don't make her feel like she's doing a bad thing"

"Alright, I'll try."

Pepper could not be more right.

Even though Toni spent most of her time with Steve, she still greeted me with a hug when I can home. Or she would come and say good morning by jumping on the bed to wake me and Pepper, sometimes cuddling with us till we got up.

I guess Steve hadn't stolen all her attention.

A few days later, I went over to Toni's room. The door was shut, just like always. I knocked lightly on the door.

I heard her bathroom door slamming shut.

"Toni?" I slowly opened the door and made my way to the bathroom. I heard the sound of someone coughing.

"You alright in there?" I asked.

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" she called out to me. "Just give me a minute"

I heard water running. She opened the door a few seconds later.

"Hey, what's up?" she asked leaning against the door frame.

"I just wanted to say, I'm sorry"

"For what?"

"For overreacting when I heard you and Steve were dating. I don't know what came over me, it was hard for me to accept the fact that my little girl was seeing someone."

"It's alright Tony." She pulled me into a hug."That's completely understandable."

"So no hard feelings?" I said into her hair.

"No Tony, all is good."

"Another thing" I said, she looked up at me. "One day, you are going to have to stop calling me that."

"Calling you what?"

"'Tony', 'Mr. Stark', everything you hear everyone say when they are referring to me, that's what they call me. But you are my daughter, I think you should refer to me as something else. Have any idea what that could be?"

"Dad?"

"Yes princess." I said as I lovingly nuzzled her.

She giggled softly and wrapped her arms tighter around me.

I felt like she was my little girl again.

Like some father-daughter time we hardly got anymore.

But Toni ruined the moment when she shot off to the bathroom once again.


	9. Chapter 9

Toni POV

I was sick again later that week.

Bruce came and examined me. He seemed baffled by my symptoms.

"Strange." he said as he looked at his thermometer. "Vomiting but you don't have a fever. Severe nausea, and headaches."

"You have any idea what it could be?" I asked.

"It can be a lot of different things. I'm gonna have to run a few test to get a correct diagnosis. But in the meantime, you just stay in bed." He gathered up his things and left.

I had never felt so bad in my life. I was either having to run to the bathroom or unable to get out of bed.

There was a knock at my door and Pepper came in. "Brought you some soup." she set the bowel on my nightstand.

"Thanks" I groaned and Pepper left.

The soup did smell good, but I did not feel like throwing up again.

But eventually, I gave it a little taste.

I waited, nothing.

I concluded that the soup was safe and ate the rest of it.

Next thing I knew, it was morning.

A few hours later, I felt better and was able to get up and get dressed. I had been in bed pretty much all day, and wanted to get up and not waste another day.

"The soup made you feel better I see!" Pepper announced when I came downstairs. She was busy on her laptop, as usual.

"Yes. I feel a lot better" I said, dropping my dirty bowel into the sink.

I looked around the room. It was empty.

"Where is everyone? I asked Pepper.

"Your Dad and Dr. Banner are in the lab." she said, not looking up from the screen, "Clint and Natasha are in the shooting range, and Steve is in the gym."

I decided to peek into the lab. I could see Bruce at his desk, looking through a microscope, different chemicals all around him.

I looked to the other side of the lab and saw Dad sitting by a red car, busy in the engine. There was loud rock music blasting through the speakers. I wondered if that disturbed Bruce at all. Or maybe he didn't care.

I wanted to go in but the door was locked. A keypad appeared on the glass beside the door. It said to type in a pass code. I decided to wing it. I typed in a number that I could remember. The door clicked and the music stopped.

"Please don't turn down my music." I heard Dad grumble as I stepped in.

Bruce was so absorbed in his work that he didn't notice me coming in.

"Are you like a mechanic or something?" I asked as Dad turned to face me.

"Kind of." He said, wiping his hands on his on a rag. "I'm mainly interested in the engines."

"Can you teach me?" I asked, I always wanted to work with cars, but never got too since Mr. Sims said it was for boys.

"Sure." Dad said.

I squealed and went to watch him. He let me tinker with a few things, explaining to me how they work. Pretty soon, my hands were just as greasy as his. I just wiped them on my jeans, I didn't care.

After that I went to find Steve.

I found him in the gym. He was using a punching bag, hitting it hard. I could hear him grunting with every blow. I decided it was best not to distract him.

Suddenly the bag flew past me! Steve stood there for a few minutes, panting. Sweat was dripping off his face. He wiped that away and went toward the bench when he caught sight of me.

"Hey. You feeling better?" He grabbed a towel from his bag.

"Yep. I guess it was just a little stomach bug"

"Good thing that's all it was. Banner could not really find out what was wrong with you."

"Well now, he doesn't need to worry. I feel just fine"

"I see you've been in the lab." He said noticing the smears of grease on my jeans.

"Yeah, Dad let me work on one of his cars." I said excitedly

"Did you like it?"

"Yes, it was fun. I've always wanted to be a mechanic but Mr. Sims said it was for boys." I said "But that's not true, girls can do everything boys can do."

Steve chuckled a walked out of the gym. I went upstairs a few minutes later.

When I came back into the living room, I was a bit surprised to see Bruce standing there. He gestured for me to come over to him.

"I have to talk to you." he said softly

"Sure." I said "What do you want to talk about."

Bruce took a glance over his shoulder. I followed his gaze and saw Pepper still working, only this time she was on the phone.

Not only that but Clint and Natasha were lounging on the couch.

"We should go somewhere private." he said to me.

"We can go to my room?"

"That would be fine."

I led him up to my room. I shut the door behind us and sat down on my bed. Bruce sat beside me.

"Toni, I was up all night running test and, nothing was adding up. I thought you maybe had a stomach flu but your symptoms didn't match any of the cases of stomach flu. So I thought it was a parasite of some sort, still, I couldn't find anything that matched your symptoms."

"I think it's just a common sickness, it'll pass."

"I wouldn't be so sure" he turned to face me. "Do you have any other symptoms? At all? Besides the vomiting and nausea, and headaches?"

I did have other symptoms. But I didn't think they were a big deal. But I had to tell him. Besides the frequent headaches, I thought it was because I was getting dehydrated from all the vomiting, so I drank tons of water. And I was also having to go to the bathroom more than ever, even if I just drank one glass of water.

The last few things I mentioned must have given Bruce my correct diagnosis. My nausea was getting worse, things I normally ate, like Chinese food, started to smell weird and I got the urge to vomit. I was also craving things I'd never eat. Like soybeans and veggie burgers.

"All those symptoms add up to just one thing. You just might be..." he paused

"Be what?" I asked

Bruce flushed a bit and started again. "You might be...pregnant."

"What!" I almost jumped off the bed. "How could that be possible? Steve and I never did anything?"

"What if it's not from Steve? Did anything happen while you were in the orphanage? Anything that you can remember?"

Something did happen. But I never told anyone. I just tried to forget. But I had to tell someone, I decided that it would be him.

"I was sitting outside, alone, one day when these three boys approached me." I said "They seemed friendly, so I let my guard down. Then one of them offers me some hot chocolate. It smelled good, so I took it. After a few sips, I began to feel really weird. I told the boys that it was nice talking to them and all, but that I wasn't feeling very good and was going to go lay down. But I hadn't even made it to the door, when everything went black."

Bruce seemed to be intrigued this so I continued.

"When I woke up, I was in my bed. As if nothing happened. But my friends kept acting a little strange."

"Strange how?" Bruce asked

"They were acting like they were hiding something and were constantly distracting me whenever I tried to go outside."

"So they knew. But you didn't feel any different" Bruce asked

"Other than minor stomach cramps, I felt fine."

"So these three young men took advantage of you. But we can't really be sure if you are pregnant. Next time you go out, I want you to buy some pregnancy tests. Better to know now then to find out later."

"Ok" I said.

We left my room and headed downstairs. Bruce went back into his lab. I sat on the couch and fumbled with the new tablet Dad had got for me.

I heard someone coming down the stairs.

I looked up to see Steve coming in the room. He had a set of keys in his hand and told Pepper he was going to run down to the store and asked if she needed anything.

What a gentleman.

"Hey Steve." I called getting up from the couch. "Can I go with you?"

"Sure. I mean if that's OK with you." He said turning to Pepper who gave her permission and Steve and I went into the elevator.

This was the first time I ever went anywhere since I arrived. It felt good to get out of the tower.

We drove down to the local pharmacy. Steve parked the car and we both got out. When we got inside, I asked him if he would show me the cosmetics. He led me down to the right aisle.

"Thank you." I said and he walked away.

I ended up needing a basket for all my stuff. Dad had given me money and said to get whatever I wanted. I got nail polish, makeup, hair products and some sweet stuff like chocolate and cookies. And, of course, my #1 craving, soy beans.

I remembered my conversation with Bruce earlier. I did not want to draw attention to myself by wandering around so I went up to the lady at the pharmacy counter.

"Hi, do you know where I can find first response test?" I asked her

"That would be along the back wall, just at the end of aisle 14." she said.

"Thanks." I walked away.

When I found what I was looking for, I decided to go and find Steve. But then I thought, 'What would he think when he saw what was in my basket?' So I decided to just go and pay for my stuff. After which I saw saw Steve come and do the same thing a few minutes later.

"Got everything?" Steve asked me as we headed to the car.

"Yes." I said.

Steve and I climbed into the car and went home.


	10. Chapter 10

Toni POV

I didn't take the test that day, or the next day, or the next week. I was too busy preparing myself for the results, and how to break it to Steve, Clint, Natasha, Bruce, Pepper, but mainly my Dad. How was he going to take it?

I tried not to show that I was hiding something but everyone seemed to sense it.

Clint was doing everything he could to annoy me. The thing that really got to me was when I wouldn't let him in my room so he would come in through the air ducts. I would wake up most mornings to find him hovering just above my bed, which was not what I wanted to see first thing in the morning.

Natasha kept trying to get it out of me by having little slumber parties with me and telling me her secrets hoping I would do the same.

Steve was being extra nice and charming.

Dad had several discussions with me, saying that I could tell him anything, and that all he wanted to do was make my life comfortable in any way possible.

Bruce jerked his attention to me whenever I said just the first syllable of his name.

Pepper seemed too busy to notice anything, but I could tell she knew something was wrong.

The next day, there was this loud noise. It sounded like an alarm, everyone rushed out at the sound of it. Everyone, except Pepper and I.

I noticed that Steve, Clint, and Natasha were in those clothes they had on when we first met when I had taken out the gunman, Clint and Natasha in black and Steve in his red, white, and blue. Dad was pressing some buttons on those bracelets he always wore. Bruce just left in normal attire.

They didn't come back that day, or the next. Pepper said they would be gone for a while.

A few days after they left, I was looking at the news. It was a story about the Avengers, my favorite heroes. It was so exciting to watch the brave Captain America, Iron man, Hawkeye, Black Widow and the mighty Hulk in action.

I couldn't help but notice that Hawkeye and Black Widow looked a lot like Clint and Natasha, and Captain America had the same suit as Steve. And that Iron Man had my Dad's voice. I didn't know what to think of this Hulk character. There was also some big dude with a hammer with them. Whoever that was.

A few weeks later, I decided to take the test. Pepper was busy, and no one else was home. I went into my bathroom and locked the door. But then I remembered the one person that knows everything.

"J.A.R.V.I.S?" I called

"Yes Miss?" The A.I said

"I need to trust you with a secret."

"Sure. What is the cause for this secrecy?"

"I'm about to take a pregnancy test. But I need you to promise not to say anything."

"It's my job to alert your mother and father of your doings."

"I know. But please promise you won't tell. I don't want them to be mad. And what if it's negative? I'll still get yelled at for buying them. They might make me and Steve break up."

"I don't know why I'm giving in, but you have my word, I will not alert Mr. & Mrs. Stark of this conversation between you and I."

"Thanks You're the best." I said before taking the test stick out of the box.

After a few minutes, the test result was ready. I took a minute to brace myself, preparing for the worst.

I picked it up.

My worst fear had came true.

The test read: Positive.


	11. Chapter 11

Toni POV

I stared at the stick, horrified.

How was I going to tell Dad. How was Steve going to take it? What if Dad sent me back?

Mr. Sims would not have a pregnant girl in his orphanage. I might end up on the street.

This was too much.

I burst into tears.

How could this happen? I'm too young to be a Mom, I'm only seventeen, just a kid myself. I felt so unprepared for this.

There was a knock at my bedroom door. I took a minute to gather myself together before calling: "Come in"!

I threw the stick in the trash.

When I came out of the bathroom, I was more than relieved to see Steve standing in my room.

"Steve!" I said happily. He had been gone so long, and I missed him.

"Toni!" He said happily as he scoops me up into his arms and locks me into a kiss.

This was totally unexpected! We had been seeing each other for more than a month now and the most intimate thing we ever did was shake hands.

But I could not help but allow myself to be swept away by his charms.

"Oh I missed you." he said when we broke apart, our foreheads nuzzled together.

"I missed you more." I said.

"I don't think so." Steve chuckled before we kissed again.

I loved this guy.

"Were you crying?" Steve asked, noticing my puffy eyes.

I couldn't lie to him.

"I was. But I'm fine now."

"What was wrong?" He seemed concerned.

"Nothing." I did not want to tell him.

He pulled me over to the sitting area in my room and put me on his lap after he sat down. "Toni, I haven't known you for very long. But I know for a fact that it's not like you to be crying like this. Something is wrong."

I started crying again. Steve pulled me closer to him, my head on his chest. I told him what happened at the orphanage.

"Steve, I'm pregnant." I sobbed into his chest.

"What!" He was shocked.

"I took a test right before you came home. It was positive." I chocked through my sobs.

Steve hugged me even closer.

"How am I going to explain this to Dad?" I was sure he would be angry.

"Don't worry. I'll tell him."

"No Steve, Dad will not take it well if you tell him. I'd rather it be Bruce."

"Ok." Steve said. "Let's go tell him."

"OK" I slid off his lap and we made our way down the hall. We passed by my Dad's room, he and Pepper were having a "discussion". Something Dad about not giving Pepper a call to say that he was ok? I don't know.

I took a minute to wipe away my tears before we knocked on the door to Bruce's room, he opened the door right away. He had on a pair of jeans and a shirt, that was unbuttoned. I never realised before how muscular he was.

"Hey guys" he started to button his shirt. "What's up?"

"Oh, nothing. Just came to say hi." I said with forced enthusiasm. "You've been gone so long, I missed you."

"Oh that's really sweet of you."

"Yeah, I missed watching you work in the lab." I said

Bruce sensed that something was wrong. He maybe saw that I had been crying.

"You OK, you look a little upset?" He asked me.

I took a deep breath. "I took a pregnancy test about an hour ago" I began.

"And? The results were?" Bruce asked.

"It was positive."

Bruce seemed surprised/slightly upset. "Oh Toni." He hugged me. "I'm so sorry to hear that. I was really hoping that you weren't."

"How far along do you think I am?" I really wanted to know.

"Let me check."

He told me to lay down on the bed.

When I did, he pressed firmly, but gently on my stomach.

"Well, I would say you're at about, maybe, 12-15 weeks."

"That far already." I sighed as I sat up.

"It's a good thing you haven't started showing yet."

I thought about that. Dad would have panicked if he saw my stomach growing and no one knew why.

"How am I going to tell Dad?" I asked.

"Don't worry about that. We'll tell him." Bruce said

"When?" I asked

"Tonight." Steve said, putting his arm around me.

Tony POV

Bruce gathered everyone together later that night.

He said, something came up. Something we all needed to talk about.

Toni was asleep on the couch. I was about to go and wake her but Bruce told me to leave her.

"What could be so important?" Natasha asked. "It's very rare that we all have to be gathered together. Unless it's something to do with S.H.I.E.L.D."

"This has nothing to do with S.H.I.E.L.D. It's about Toni." Bruce said.

Now he had my attention. Was something wrong with my daughter? I looked over at her sleeping on the couch. She looked fine me.

"I bet you've all noticed her episodes of vomiting and nausea. I was running some tests, but nothing was adding up."

Now I was really concerned. I'm guessing from the late nights he spent in the lab, it had to be serious.

"But earlier today." Bruce continued, "She helped me find the correct diagnosis."

Everyone seemed to lean in a bit, waiting for the answer.

He looked directly at me.

"Stark, your daughters pregnant."

Toni POV

I was sound asleep when a strange noise jerked me out of my subconsciousness. There was no talking, laughter, fooling around or poking fun, no one rushing out the door suddenly. No sound of complaints about Clint climbing through the air ducts, or Pepper and Dad having an argument. Or Steve trying to keep the peace. It was a noise I was not used to, at least not since I've been here: Silence.

I opened my eyes and looked around, the room was dark. I figured everyone had gone to bed. I decided too myself. I slipped off the couch and made my way to the stairs.

Something made me look over into the dining room as I passed by.

That's when I saw that no one had gone to bed, they were all at the dining room table.

All of them were staring at Bruce.

A mixture of emotions on their faces.

Steve had the same expression as when I told him I was pregnant, shocked/saddened.

Pepper had her hand over her mouth, her eyes glittering with tears.

Dad was sitting next to her, he had his face buried in his hands.

Clint and Natasha shared one common emotion: Pure fury.

Bruce must have told them.

"Which one's the Father?" Clint asked through gritted teeth.

"We don't know." Bruce said. "We'll have to wait until the baby is here then we can run DNA tests"

"But how will we know which one to compare it with?" Natasha asked, she sounded like she was ready to kill.

"That's another problem." Bruce sighed.

"Does she remember what any of these boys looked like?" Clint asked

"No, she said they all had on black hoodies, so she couldn't quite see their faces." Bruce said.

"This is just terrible." I heard Pepper say. She sounded like she was crying.

The room was silent for a minute.

"Well, she can always-" Natasha began.

"Abortion is not an option here!" Bruce said, the calmness escaping from his voice.

"I was gonna say put the baby up for adoption." Natasha said

"That's gonna have to be up to her. By I highly doubt it. She was more upset about what you guys would say than anything." Steve said.

"Stark, you've been very quiet. What do you think about all of this?" Bruce asked my Dad.

"Well" He said after a while. "She's pregnant, and.." he paused. "I'm gonna have to work with that. I know it's hard to accept but I brought her here to be part of this family. And this is not going to get in the way. Look at it this way, she's gonna be a Mom, you all are gonna be aunts and uncles, and Steve might be a Dad." I could tell he was trying to keep the despair out of his voice.

I was relived to hear that. I was all freaked out for nothing. At least I didn't have to do this alone.

00

"Mr. Stark requires your presence in his bedroom Miss Toni." J.A.R.V.I.S said to me later that night. I couldn't sleep so I was looking at a magazine. Soft music was playing through the speakers.

I slipped off the bed and went to Dad and Pepper's room. The door was open. Dad gestures for me to come to him. He pulls me into a hug when I reached him.

"I'm so sorry. I should have gotten you when we first met." He whispered into my hair.

"You did." I said

"No." He said "That was the only time you remember. I saw you when you were just a toddler. Fury asked me if I would take you in then, but I... refused. But now I'm starting to regret that. If I would have brought you home then, this would have never happened."

"It's not your fault." I whispered to him. "Don't be so hard on yourself.

Tony POV

Pepper and I sat on the bed. Toni had gone to her room for the night.

Bruce said she was at like twelve weeks now, maybe more. That meant she was pregnant when I brought her here.

"Why couldn't it have been Steve who was the father?" I asked in despair.

"Because he knows she too young and that it would have not been fair to her." Pepper whispered.

"I know. And I respect Steve for that, but," I sighed, "It would have been easier to accept. A lot easier to live with."

"I know. " Pepper started sobbing again. I put my arms around her and held her close.


	12. Chapter 12

Tony POV

A few weeks later, Toni started to show a little, actually, a lot. We all felt a little bit better about the situation.

Pepper was having a little too much fun touching her stomach and giggling.

Natasha was ready to kill the paparazzi for her sake.

Clint acted like he could care less, but we all knew how he felt about kids, he had this firm but gentle grasp whenever he handled a child. Kids seemed to like him.

Steve got pretty excited when Toni said that she wanted him to be the Father.

Bruce and I couldn't be happier for her.

But Toni was not so pleased. Now that she was showing, she never came out of her room, not even for meals. She never went out anymore with Steve either.

"Because I look fat! That's why!" Was her answer when we asked her what was wrong.

"No you don't!" I said to her.

"The why do people stare at me everywhere I go?"

"The stare because their happy for you." Pepper said. "And so are we."

Our encouragement didn't matter, Toni still stayed locked up in her room.

A few days later, we got a call saying that we were needed on the S.H.I.E.L.D heli-carrier.

"We should bring Toni with us." Clint suggested when I told him and the rest of the team.

"Absolutely not. She can't fly at four months pregnant." Natasha said

"So, we'll get there early, show her around, and then have someone take her home." Clint said

His plan did sound reasonable.

Pepper seemed a bit hesitant.

"She might as well know. She's been asking a lot of questions, what's the harm in showing her?" Bruce said

I called Fury and told him that I was bringing Toni along.

"Shall I arrange for someone to take her home?" Fury asked

"Nope, got that taken care of." I said.

"OK, see you when you get here." He said and I hung up

"So, who's taking her home?" Natasha asked

"She is." I said

"How?" Bruce asked

"Don't tell her but, I got her a car." I said

"What?!" Everyone stared at me.

"When?" Clint asked

"A few days ago, she hasn't come out of her room in a while so I was able to go and get it without her suspecting a thing." I said

"What kind of car did you get her?" Pepper asked

"A blue Chevy"

"Oh she's gonna love that." Pepper said, smiling.

"I figured she would. Since, we're gonna be gone so much I figured that she would need her own car." I looked at my watch. "She better get up, we have to get going."

"I'll go get her." Clint said, heading upstairs.

Toni POV

I woke up to the sound of rapid pounding on my door. I groaned and pulled the covers over my head.

I knew it was Clint. He was the last person I wanted to see.

Just then there was a bang! I jerked up and saw that Clint had yanked my door open(even thought it was locked) and was standing in my doorway.

"Didn't you hear me knocking?" He asked.

"If you can call it that." I said laying back down.

Clint yanked the covers off me.

"Hey!" I said as I tried to grab them back.

"You've been in your room way too long, It's not good for you, you need to get out of the tower. Now we have someplace to go and we leave in thirty minutes. You're welcome to come with us if you want." Clint said

He knew the answer to that. "Have fun" I said climbing out of bed but Clint gripped my arm before I could get away.

"Let me rephrase that. You're coming with us." he said.

Clint wasn't going to let me stay home. I told him I would be down in ten minutes. He left my room and I took a shower and got dressed.

I decided to put on jeans and a sweater.

I couldn't button my jeans so I ditched them and put on a jean skirt and tights.

The sweater did not do much in hiding my growing stomach. I was going to get a lot bigger so why fret about this? Bruce thought it might be twins since I was poking out a little bit more for just four months.

I put on a cute pair of boots and went downstairs.

"Huh, right on time." Dad said when I came into the living room. "Actually a few minutes early."

"We all decided that we showed you where we work." Natasha said.

I had been a bit curious. I was always asking what S.H.I.E.L.D was, and why everyone had to drop what they were doing and rush out the door. Sometimes it was in the middle of the night. And now they were finally giving me some answers.

We went to a diner for breakfast and then took a long drive to what Dad called the S.H.I.E.L.D heli-carrier, or whatever he said. When we got there, I thought it looked more like an army base.

Everyone went inside but I stayed outside, looking all around.

"What do you think?" A voice said behind me.

I turned around to see Maria Hill.

"It's so cool." I breathed

Maria chuckled. "Fury figured you would like it. Come on, I'll show you around."

I followed her to the edge of the bridge.

"Are those..." I leaned over further from the edge, "propellers?" We were already over water.

"Yes. Good observation" Maria said

"Is this like a submarine of some sort?"

Maria shook her head.

"This thing flies?"

"Yes, but we're under strict orders not to lift off until you go home."

That was true, flying at 30,000 feet in the air at four months pregnant could cause some problems.

"How long before you take off?" I didn't want them to be off schedule.

Maria looked at her watch. "About two hours, that should be plenty of time."

"For what?"

"Your Dad wanted me to show you the archives."

"You mean like a museum?"

"Sort of." She shrugged. "Why don't we get started?"

I followed her inside.

There was a bunch of people inside, all in these dark blue clothes with an eagle symbol on their sleeves, just like what Maria was wearing. All of them were concentrated on a computer screen. We had only taken a few steps inside when a hand slammed down on my shoulder.

"Who gave you permission to be here?" A voice boomed from above me.

"Easy Agent, er, José. This is Tony Stark's adopted daughter. I'm showing her the archives." Maria said.

"So your the girl who took out those men who attacked at Stark tower." He let go of my shoulder. "I must say that was rather impressive. Archives are straight that way." he pointed to a long hallway.

I started to walk in that direction.

"I'll be there in a minute." Maria called after me.

"What do you mean she doesn't like the word 'Agent'?" I heard José say.

"Just like Stark doesn't like being handed things, she doesn't like the word 'Agent'. It makes her uncomfortable. That's all." Maria said to him.

I did not hear what he said next because I had made my way to the archives.

It was so neat.

The first thing I saw was this huge tin can looking thing. No it looked like a suit. On the caption it said, "Iron man mk 1"

Iron man. I heard about him. He was the person who was kidnapped and held captive in Afghanistan, he built the suit to escape.

I walked to the next one. There was a helmet and a shield, almost like Steve's. The caption read, "Captain America".

The next one had a bow, like Clint's, only it was broken. "Hawkeye"

There were more weapons and pictures of deceased agents and their weapons.

But there was one that particularly caught my eye. It was a picture of a couple with a toddler between them. "In loving memory of Juan & Alejandra Cortex." the caption read. Next to it was the newspaper saying that they had been brutally murdered.

But it was unclear what happened to their two-year-old daughter.

I went down to the next department. This one had more recent events. Like what happened in Manhattan. I just heard about it on the news, but nothing else.

This gave just about every detail. Iron man, Captain America, Hulk, Thor, Black widow, and Hawkeye, team known as the Avengers had fought and won the battle in New York.

The cause of it all was Thor's brother Loki. Loki in his thirst for power killed hundreds of innocent people.

"Interesting, aren't they?" Someone said behind me.

I nearly jumped out of my skin. I turned to see Maria had joined me.

"Oh yes, this is very cool!" She smiled. "Who are these people? I would love to meet them."

"The Avengers? You've already met them."

"I have?" I was really confused.

"Yes. You live with them."

I stared at her in disbelief. She had to be joking.

"Your Dad, he's the famous Tony Stark/Iron man. Your boyfriend Steve, Captain Steve Rogers, Captain America. Bruce Banner, he's the hulk. Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff, master assassins Hawkeye and Black Widow."

This was a lot to take in. I was living with the Avengers, earth's mightiest heroes, and I didn't know it.

"Your cousin, Jason, thought all this might be a little overwhelming for you. So he just pretended to be a regular kid when you two met. He just so happens to be one of our... agents as well."

"Where is Jason now?" I asked

"He's in the medical ward."

"Can I see him?"

Maria thought for a minute. "No" she said finally. "He's not doing good. He might not make it."

She took me back to the place where everyone was hunched over a computer. She let me up some stairs, where Fury was standing.

"What do you think." he asked me.

"I think it's really neat."

"Stark figured you would enjoy it." he smiled at me.

"Well I must say he was right." I looked around once more. "So this is where Dad goes all the time."

"No, has his own company, he spends a little time there too."

"Does Pepper work here?"

"She just so happens to be the CEO of Stark Industries."

"Isn't that that huge weapons manufacturer?" I asked.

"It used to be." Fury's phone rang. "I have to take this." He said.

"Don't wander off." Maria said to me, I just now realized that she was still standing there. She and Fury walked away.

Why would I want to wander off? The view was great from here!

If I looked to my left, I could see the lab where Dad and Bruce worked. I could see them chatting with each other as they scanned computers and other devices. If I looked straight ahead, I had a good view of the water.

Clint and Natasha were somewhere.

Steve had vanished a while ago. I had no clue where he was.

After a while, I began to get bored with the constant sounds of typing and noises over the intercom.

Was there anything to do here besides just standing around?

I heard footsteps. This got my attention. I looked over my shoulder and saw two men walking by.

No one was looking so I decided to follow them.

We eventually reached a hallway, I saw one of the men take a key out of his pocket and slid it through the lock, it beeped and they stepped in.

I raced over and grabbed the door just before it shut.

I took one last glance around before sneaking in.

I looked around the room. I was filled with different boxes and cases.

One of them was opened. I went over to it and looked in.

It had the biggest gun I had ever seen. It looked dangerous. Beside it was a piece of paper, no a photo of a glowing cosmic cube.

"What on earth?" I whispered to myself, not wanting to be heard. "Wonder if Dad knows about this?" I slid the picture into my pocket.

"Who gave you permission to be in here?" A voice said behind me. I whipped around to find Phil Coulson standing there, arms folded, a stern expression on his face.

"Uh, uh, n-n-nobody." I stammered.

"I thought I told you not to wander off." Maria appeared at his side.

"I got bored. What is all this?" I gestured all around me.

"That is nothing you need to know about." Coulson said sternly.

"Can you tell me what this is?" I pulled the picture from my pocket.

"Where did you get that?" Coulson took it from my hand.

"You left one of the cases open."

"We were using this to create a source of long lasting energy." Maria said.

I scoffed. Yeah right.

"I could be wrong." I pulled the gun from the case. Coulson and Maria both backed away. "But this doesn't look like long lasting energy."

Something like embarrassment spread across their faces.

"Or do you mean long lasting energy for weapons?"

"We should get you home, lift off is in thirty minutes." Maria said under her breath and she a Coulsen left the room.

I went back into the lobby where José was waiting with Steve.

"Ready to go Miss?" He asked me.

"You can call me Toni. And yes, I'm ready to go when you are."

"Toni, huh? You're almost have the same name as your Dad." He said as we made our way to the exit.

"Toni is more of a nickname." I said. "My real name is Antonia Maria Cortex."

The place went silent at the sound of my name. I looked around to find everyone staring at me. Including Steve and José.

"Did you say, 'Cortex'?" Someone said.

"Yes, that's what I said. Why?"

"No reason." Everyone went back to work.

I went to the lab. Dad and Bruce were still working.

I threw my arms around my Dad, just like he did me.

"Oh hey." he hugged me back.

"I've got to go now. Just came to say bye."

"Ok" he gave me a kiss. "I'll see you later."

I went and hugged Bruce.

"See you when we get back." he told me.

Steve was waiting in the doorway, he was going to be riding back home with me.

"Tell Clint and Natasha I said bye, whenever you see them." I walked out with Steve.

"Bye Fury" I said when we passed him.

"You can call me Nick." he said with a smile.

I didn't see Maria or Coulsen on our way out. But José was with us.

When we came out, I didn't see the car. How was I going to get home?

Steve pulls a set of keys from his pocket.

"Here." he handed them to me. "This is for you." he pointed too a light blue Chevy.

I was so surprised, I had my own car.

"Oh thank you, thank you!" I threw my arms around Steve.

"Oh I had nothing to do with this, it was your Dad's idea."

"Well I have him to thank" I opened the car door and got in.

Steve and José started to head back.

I got out of the car.

"Hey!" I called. Steve froze. "Forgetting something?"

Steve came back over too me and we leaned into a kiss.

I heard José whistle. "Go on loverboy take your time." he teased.

After that they went back inside and I drove home in my new car!


	13. Chapter 13

Toni POV

"Hello! Anyone home?!" I called once I stepped off the elevator.

"It looks like it's just you and I this evening." I heard J.A.R.V.I.S say.

Cool, I had the whole place to myself.

I kicked off my boots and made my way to the kitchen. I grabbed a pint of heavenly hash from the freezer and flopped down on the couch and turned on the T.V.

After a few minutes of searching, I settled on Prison Break and watched for quite a long time while enjoying my ice cream. This series left a major cliffhanger after every episode so I had to keep watching.

Before I knew it, it was getting dark. Where was everyone?

I heard the elevator doors open. I turned to see Pepper coming in.

"Hi!" I called out to her.

"Oh hey Toni" she came over and gave me a hug. "Are you here by yourself?"

"Yeah, have been for the past few hours."

"Well your Dad won't be home till later. I think you should go to bed, it's after ten."

"No, I'll wait up for him."

"Toni, on a normal circumstances I would let you, but now," she put her hand on my stomach. "You're not the only one we're trying to make sure is healthy."

"I'm sure it's fine. I want to wait up for Dad, to make sure he comes home safe. Please can I stay up?"

I begged and begged until finally, Pepper gave in.

Tony POV

Everyone was beyond tired when we finally got to go home. Actually, some of them fell asleep on the way.

I stepped off the elevator into the living room. Everyone else groggily went up to their rooms.

I looked at the clock. 4:30am.

Pepper was still up, but she seemed really sleepy.

I went over and gave her a kiss.

I looked around for Toni, surely she would have gone to bed by now.

I turned to find her asleep on the couch.

"She refused to go to bed until you came home." Pepper said, appearing at my side.

I chuckled softly, she missed me I guess.

I went over to her and carefully picked her up. I carried her up to her room and tucked her into bed.

"Goodnight." I said softly and kissed her on the cheek.

I went to my room. Pepper was already in bed, I quietly changed into my pajamas and climbed into bed with her.

I laid there for a few minutes, just thinking. Mostly about my daughter.

Overall, she seemed happy to be here, to finally be part of a family.

She and Natasha had become like sisters almost. They would spend hours together, just talking.

Pepper was like a mom to her, but she still wouldn't call her "Mom".

She and Bruce spent a lot of time together, mostly in the lab. Other times they would be playing a game together.

I noticed that she and Clint were slowly, slowly becoming friends. He showed her how to shoot a bow and arrow, trying desperately to get her show some interest in him. It helped a little. Actually, she fired and arrow at his head later that day, which we all got a kick out of.

Clint didn't think it was funny.

And the other night when we were all watching a movie, she and Clint were sitting on the floor sharing a bowel of popcorn.

In the middle of it, Clint saw that she was getting sleepy and lovingly put his arm around her and pulled her close, allowing her head to rest on his shoulder. For the first time, she didn't make a scene and screaming: "Ewww get your arm off me!"

And then there was this thing with her and Steve. It was like she grew up right before my eyes. First she was my little girl, now she was Steve's girlfriend. And on top of everything, she was going to be a mom.

That baby, was all she and Steve ever talked about. Baby names, how to do the nursery, everything. But there was one more thing they were considering, whether they should get married or not.

Toni figured that since Steve was going to be the baby's father then they should tie the knot.

So this was what being a father was all about, trying to figure out what was best for your child.

Something else had came up too. Toni was constantly asking when Jason was coming back.

I just told her that he would be OK. That he would pull through, somehow.

But that's wasn't entirely true.

Fury had updated us all on Jason's condition. That he was on his last leg, that he was every form of life-support there was. Pepper and I went to see him almost every day. He was slowly getting better.

I couldn't help but come to this realization: That would have been Toni if he hadn't been there. And then finding out she was pregnant while in such a grave condition.

I shuttered at this causing Pepper to stir in her sleep.

I pushed those thoughts aside and went to sleep myself.

Next thing I knew, Toni was opening the curtains, letting the bright sunshine in.

I groaned and put the pillow over my head. "Why are you up so early?"

She scoffed. "Early? It's like three o'clock the the afternoon."

I jerked upright. I had slept pretty much all day.

Good thing this was our day off.

Toni sat down on the bed next to me.

I noticed she was already dressed. She had on a blue sweater dress and tights.

"Where you headed?" I asked as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

"Just got back actually."

"From where?"

"The doctor. I went in for a sonogram sound today."

"You what?!" I nearly jumped out of bed. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was gonna wake you but Pepper told me to let you sleep."

"She knew I wanted to be there? What'd I miss?"

"We found out the gender." She said with excitement.

"What is it?"

"It's a girl!"

"That's...that's...that's" I fell back on the bed. "That's great!"

"That's not all." She said, giggling with excitement.

"There's more!?" What could be better than this?

"The doctor said that she thinks she heard another heartbeat."

"Another?! What do you mean another!?"

"But it turns out that her ears weren't playing tricks on her. Bruce was right, I'm having twins!"

"Did you say, twins?"

"Yep. We don't know the gender of the other baby, it was kind of camera shy."

This was as good as it could get, twins.

"Good thing I came and woke you up, now's time for the exciting part." She slipped off the bed.

"I think I missed the exciting part."

"No, the exciting part is going baby shopping. Get dressed, we're going in an hour." She left the room.

I was downstairs in about twenty minutes, everyone was in good moods, I didn't have to ask why.

"Ready to go?" Pepper asked me as the others headed to the elevator.

"Yep, I wanna be part of this."

We drove down to the local shopping center. Toni and Steve had it all planned out, we were going to hit first Target, then if they didn't have everything on their list then we were going to babies-r-us.

Toni didn't want to over do it. She knew I could get her the very best.

But she saw what I wanted to get and thought it would be better to go to a department store since their stuff, in her opinion, was way cuter.

We walked into Target and Toni handed us each a catalog, except for me of course, I didn't like to be handed things.

"Get everything I have circled in those." Were her instructions.

Clint and Natasha went to get bottles. Bruce went to get diapers. Pepper went to go pick out baby clothes. I went to get cribs and strollers.

Steve and Toni went and looked maternity clothes at other baby stuff.

Since we knew that one of the babies was a girl, we shopped for a boy and girl, just to be safe.

If it was two girls, had everything. If it was a girl and a boy, we had everything.

I passed by the aisle where Clint and Natasha were shopping, they had a cart full of baby stuff, so did Bruce, and so did Pepper.

A few aisles down, I could hear Toni and Steve arguing.

I went to investigate.

From what I heard, Steve wanted to buy formula, but Toni thought it was best to breastfeed.

"You can't feed them both at once." I heard Steve say. "And what if you're not at home and they get hungry?"

"Then I'll use this." She held up some sort of device.

"What is that?" Steve asked.

"A breast pump." She explained. "I can use this and store the milk in the freezer for when I'm away so all you'll have to do is thaw it out."

Steve just sighed.

Toni smiled and dropped the device in the cart.

I went to look at the cribs. I was debating whether to buy two, or one oversized crib.

I went with the oversized one. It would take up more space but twins were inseparable so they would want to be together.

After that, I went to look at strollers. I got two double strollers. Toni had one, and so did Steve.

We left the store with five carts full of baby stuff. Diapers, bottles, clothing, toys, blankets, you name it.

"How can two little people need so much stuff?" Clint said as we loaded up the car.

We went to babies-r-us to shop for playpens and diaper bags.

Toni decided at the last second that we didn't need playpens since someone was always going to be watching the twins.

She decided on a really cute diaper bag. But it wasn't manly enough for Steve so he picked a different one.

After our shopping, I asked everyone where they wanted to go for dinner.

Toni said she was in the mood for some Pizza.

Nobody argued with her.

After dinner, we headed home.

It seemed to take forever to unload the car.

Since it was so late, we just dumped everything in the living room and decided to go to bed.

On the way to my room, I passed by Steve and Toni in the middle of their goodnight kiss.

She seen me and rushed over and threw her arms around me.

"Goodnight Dad." She whispered.

"Goodnight Toni." I kissed her head.

"Guess what?" She said

"What?" I asked

"Steve asked me to marry him."


	14. Chapter 14

Toni POV

"Don't you think you're moving too fast?" Natasha asked me.

We were sitting in the living room looking at different nursery ideas. I was on my computer, she was looking in a catalog.

"What do you mean?" I asked

"Well." she closed her catalog. "You've only lived here for a few months. You have like three months to go before your due date. Now you tell me you and Steve want to get married? Don't you think you should wait until after the twins are here? Because, how is that going to look? Steve Rogers, Captain America, marrying a pregnant teenage girl?"

"We were just planning something small. No wedding dress, no big venue. Just something simple at the local community center." I said

"Oh." Natasha seemed a bit dumbfounded at this.

"I know that sounds crazy, you know with Dad being a billionaire and all, but we plan to do something bigger after the twins are here. If I feel like it."

Natasha was considering this when Steve walks in.

"I'll leave you two alone." Natasha left the room.

Tony POV

I was working on my suits in the lab when I got a strange phone call.

It was a number that I didn't recognize so I ignored it.

Then it calls again.

It must be important.

I answered it. I was probably Coulson trying to get me on another mission.

"Coulson, I told you, no missions." I said.

"Hey Stark. How ya doing?" A gruff voice said.

"Uh...who is this?" I asked

"That's not important."

I muted the phone. "Trace him." I said to J.A.R.V.I.S.

"You probably know why I'm calling." The voice continued. I looked at my computer, whoever it was definitely was in New York.

"But in case you didn't know, I'll tell you." The voice said. "You have a daughter, Toni right? Well, she killed of one of my best men. And I just can't let that slide. She has taken something that was dear to me. I would return the favor but," he paused. "She was no one. So I will take what is dearest to you. Sound fair? Good. What she has done to my men, I will do worse to her. I hope you're ready." He hung up.

J.A.R.V.I.S wasn't finished tracing him but I knew he was somewhere in New York, somewhere near Queens.

I immediately called Fury and told him about the call. He said it we definitely Frank Castle, the Punisher. He said he would get right on it.

Rhodey had gotten note of the message and had come over to see what he could do.

"And she's pregnant?" He asked.

"Yes, like six months now." I said.

"Tony, I will do everything I can for her safety. I'll call the whole army if I need too."

"I appreciate that buddy. I really do, but I think S.H.I.E.L.D has it under control."

"No, you don't understand how bad this guy is. Fifteen years ago, he killed two of S.H.I.E.L.D's best agents, and that was just because they locked him up in prison. Toni killed one of his men. It just makes me sick to think of what he'd do to her. We need to do everything possible to keep her from harm. More importantly because of her condition."

This really took me by surprise. Rhodey hadn't even met Toni yet and he was already this concerned about her.

We heard someone coming down the stairs. A few seconds later, Toni appeared in the doorway.

"Hey Dad, can I-" she stopped when she saw Rhodey and I talking. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'll come back later." She started to walk away.

"No it's OK." I said and she came back in. "I'd like you to meet Colonel James Rhodes. He's a good friend of mine."

"Nice to meet you Colonel." she said politely when they shook hands.

"Toni" Rhodey smiled at her. "Your even prettier than I imagined. Has anyone told you that you're glowing?"

Toni blushed. "Yes, just about everyone."

"Your boyfriend has been talking about you nonstop. And now I can see why."

"Yeah, that's what I wanted to talk to you about." She said turning to me.

"Uh-oh, boyfriend trouble? I'll step out for this one." Rhodey left the room.

"So, is everything alright with you two?" I asked. This was very important since Steve was supposed to be the father of her twins. She'd had already been through a lot and I did not want to add 'Single mom' to the list.

Toni waved that question away. "No no. Everything's cool. It's just that, he seems a bit out of touch."

"What do you mean 'out of touch'?"

"Well just now, I was looking at cellphones on my computer and Steve asked what I was looking at. I told him I was trying to decide to get either the apple iPhone or the BlackBerry curve. And he just gave me this blank stare, like he had no idea what I was talking about. So I explained to him that they were different types of cellphones. It still wasn't clicking so I showed him. And then he said that apples and blackberries were just fruits when he was a kid. And this isn't the first time I had to explain modern technology to him. Like last night, he needed help with the DVD player, and before that, he needed help with the different remotes. How old did you say he was?"

"Well Toni," How could I put this?

"Steve is a little older than I said he was. Actually a lot older."

"How much older?" She asked

"Ummm. What would you do if I told you that he had to be at least ninety years old?"

Her eyes widened.

She shook her head "No, he can't be"

"Yes, he fought in WWII."

"Wow." she said finally. "He ages really well."

Then I explained to her the whole seventy-years-in-a-coma thing.

I know this was a lot for her take in but she had to know.

"Neat" she said. "I always wanted someone older and wiser. Seems like I got exactly what I wanted. Maybe more. I also came to tell you the date of the wedding. We decided to do it next week."

"That's not much time to plan."

"I know. Just want to do it before I get too big." She rested her hand on her stomach.

"I really think you should wait. I mean, just because you're pregnant doesn't automatically mean that you have to get married. If you want to do it when your a little older, than that's fine." I said "But right now, you're just too young."

"Well, I really want the twins to have a father, and with Steve just being my boyfriend, it doesn't really say that. And when the twins are older, what will they think when they find out their parents were never married? I would feel pretty insecure if that were to happen to me." She said

I decided to give in. Even at such a young age, Toni was a caring mother who wanted what was best for her children. If she thought that marrying Steve was the best thing to do, I wasn't going to stop her.

So the next week, Steve and Toni tied the knot.

We met at the community center and they exchanged their vows.

It wasn't much, and there were only a few guest. Me, Pepper, Clint, Natasha, Bruce, and Rhodey.

And everyone was dressed in casual clothes.

I rented out part of a fancy restaurant for the ceremony.

Well it wasn't a really a ceremony since there was so much work to do at home.

After dinner, we went home and got to work. Steve and Toni were moving from their rooms to one big one since the nursery was also going to be in there.

We moved all the furniture in the big bedroom. Assembled the king-sized bed, and then began working on the crib. Clint, Bruce, and Steve pretty much did everything. I just sat back and watched them.

Toni POV

What a day! It was still hard to believed what had happened. I was finally married to the man I loved. But I kept wondering if I had made the right decision.

"So what's it feel like to be married at such a young age?" Pepper asked me.

I fumbled with my ring. It was beautiful. It sparkled in the light of the sunset.

"It doesn't feel real." I answered honestly. "It feels like I just fast-forwarded about five years of my life in a matter of just a few hours."

"That technically happened when you got pregnant." Natasha said. "You're still a kid forced to be an adult."

She was right. First a mom, now a wife. My life had practically taken a speed bump.

"I guess I had to do what's best." I rubbed my stomach. "Their moving!" I called.

Pepper and Natasha rushed over and put both hands on my stomach, giggling when they felt the twins move.


	15. Chapter 15

Tony POV

Fury called us all to HQ for a very important meeting. He said it was urgent. Pepper was still at work so I called Rhodey and asked if he would stay with Toni and we headed out.

Fury didn't tell us what it was about or anything. He said he would explain everything when we got there.

Last time I heard him say that was when he wanted me to adopt.

I was hoping this was not another kid he wanted me to take in. Toni was ready to pop for crying out loud!

"I called you all together because of what happened about three months ago. You remember, you brought Toni to the heli-carrier?" Fury asked us.

We all sort of nodded.

"Well, she's not in trouble or anything but she said that her last name was Cortex. Any of you remember that name?"

Nobody said a word.

"Well Stark." Fury looked directly at me. "When you got that call, I knew exactly who it was and why he was after your daughter. And it wasn't because she took out his best men. You know what? Let me start over. Let's go back about eighteen years ago. Agents Mr. & Mrs. Cortex welcomed their first child. A little girl."

Fury gushed at this memory.

"They" he continued "Much to my disapproval, began training her at just nine months old. It was funny to watch something so small get through every training session. But this is what her parents wanted, to see their daughter become something amazing. But now they never will. Shortly after, they sought after Frank Castle."

"The Punisher." Clint muttered.

"Her father, his name was Juan." Fury said. "Managed to lock him up for all his crimes and his countless murders. He was going to stay in prison for the rest of his life. But he somehow escaped."

"How did escape from S.H.I.E.L.D prison?" I asked

"It's unclear how he did. But when he escaped, he was hungry, no starving for revenge. So he tracked down the Cortex's. After years of searching, he found them at a shopping center, along with their daughter, who was two years old at the time. Not caring that the place was full of people, he gunned down everyone in sight. Leaving only one surviver."

"Toni." I whispered. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but how did she survive? This guy never gives up until everyone's dead."

"If you know Toni well enough, you'll know that she is one good hider." Fury said.

"A good hider? How did she know to hide?" Steve asked.

"I used to play hide-and-seek with her all the time when her parents were off on missions. I figured it might be useful someday. Turned out I was right." Fury looked down.

"So she hid from him?" Natasha asked. "Where did she find such a good hiding spot that not even this guy could find her?"

"We don't know. Several agents rushed in after he attack and found her sitting by her parents crying and begging for them to get up. I was just glad she was alive. But she had lost everything. You know, just about every day before they left they would always say: 'We might not be coming back. This guy could be on to us before we can call for help. But if something did happen to us, please promise that you will look after our precious Antonia.'" A tear formed in Fury's eye. He quickly wiped it away.

"I made sure I kept my promise. But I couldn't' take care of her with all my work and S.H.I.E.L.D HQ ain't the best place to raise a kid. So took her to one one S.H.I.E.L.D's private foster homes, where she would be safe. By locking Castle up, her parents ruined his legacy, he lost lots of men. They said that they will rejoin him if he killed everyone under the name of Cortex in the S.H.I.E.L.D file. That, sadly, includes Toni." Fury said. "He knows she's still alive, I don't care what you have to do, you make sure he stay's away from her."

I wanted my daughter to be safe just as much as Fury and the rest of the team did.

And we were going to do whatever it takes to make sure that happens.

"One more thing." Fury added. "I don't know what it is, but, you've all...changed."

"What! No we have not!" Natasha fumed.

"Oh really?" Bruce said. "How is it that you're suddenly so trusting. Why don't you carry your weapon around anymore. Why are you suddenly so nice to Stark?"

"Um, I just, er..." Natasha just looked down.

Everyone chuckled.

"What about Barton?" Fury asked.

"He's turned into Mr. Softie." I said. "You should see him and Toni together. Almost couldn't get him to come tonight."

Clint glared at me.

Toni POV

I was miserable. My stomach had grown to the size of a beach ball and I still had two months to go.

I never knew it could be so hard to do simple things like put on my socks.

My feet were so swollen that I just went barefoot.

I spent most of my time either in bed or on the couch.

Pepper had come home from work and Rhodey left.

"Can't this go any faster?" I groaned as I struggled to sit up. Pepper rushed over and helped me.

"Why the rush?" she asked. "You still have two months to go."

"Oh that makes me feel a lot better." I said sarcastically. I was done with being pregnant.

Pepper chuckled. "Want me to make you some tea? It might make you feel better."

"Sure thank you."

Pepper disappeared into the kitchen.

The tea seemed to put the twins to sleep and I was finally able to relax and take a nap without their constant kicking.

Tony POV

"Guys, Toni has now entered her third trimester of pregnancy." Bruce said one morning. "And you may have noticed that she's getting a bit-"

"Mean?" Clint put in.

"Irritable?" Steve said

"Malicious?" Natasha said.

"So, you've noticed." Bruce said. "But, there is a way to make this go a bit smoother for all of us. Whenever she wants something, no one say anything, just give it to her."

That seemed easy enough.

Just then, Toni came downstairs. She didn't look like she had just got out of bed, she was now giving off what was known as a pregnancy glow. It affected everything, but mostly her skin, hair, and nails. She had definitely gotten prettier.

Now if only she had an attitude to match.

Instead of saying"Good morning" in her sweet voice, she growled at us when she came into the kitchen.

Instead of the healthy breakfast she usually had, which contained yogurt, eggs, toast, milk or orange juice, she grabbed the gallon of chocolate ice cream and a two liter bottle of coke.

Her cravings were getting crazy.

She devoured the ice cream like she had been starving. Me, Steve, Clint, Bruce, Pepper, and Natasha minded our manners and let my pregnant daughter enjoy her breakfast. We couldn't help but watch her. How could someone consume so much ice cream and soda at one sitting. Well she was eating for three.

Toni took a huge gulp of coke, straight from the bottle. "What are you all staring at?" She sneered at us and we went out of the dining room.

Toni POV

I noticed that I was getting more irritable and was snapping at everyone. I kinda felt bad but I couldn't help it, at least not now.

Late one night, the twins seemed to be challenging each other to a gymnastics competition. I could not sleep with that going on.

Oh, I would kill for a chocolate almond covered ice cream bar right about now.

I nudged Steve. He stirred but didn't wake.

"Steve." I whispered. Still nothing.

With great effort, I managed to kick him awake.

"What? What's wrong?" He asked groggily.

"Go get me some ice cream bars, please. The one covered in chocolate and almonds." I was trying to be a little polite.

"It's like two in the morning. Nothings open." He said

"The drug store a few blocks down is open 24/7." I said

He sighed and climbed out of bed, got dressed and went out of the room.

Tony POV

Bruce and I were in the living room working when Steve walks in, he was already dressed and was getting his keys.

"Late night craving?" I asked

Steve nodded.

"What is it this time?" Bruce asked

"Ice cream, as usual." Steve said


	16. Chapter 16

Tony POV

"Adam Sims has arrived sir." J.A.R.V.I.S updated me one day when I was in my workshop.

Adam Sims was the caretaker at the orphanage Toni was from.

He called earlier and said he had something to tell me.

I told him that he could come over.

I wiped me greasy hands on my jeans and headed upstairs.

Adam was standing by the barstools chatting with Toni.

I could tell something was wrong. Just to be safe, I gestured for her to leave.

"We found them." He said softly

"Found who?" I asked.

"The young men who got Toni pregnant."

I was shocked. I didn't expect to ever find them.

"Their names were Liam Gates, Hector Finch, and Timothy Wells. All three of them were found dead this morning."

I couldn't believe it.

"You don't think the team has anything to do with this do you?" I asked

"I was going to ask you about it. Do you think it could have been one of them who did this?"

"No" I said automatically "At least I hope not. They would never do that. They don't even know who any of those boys are."

"I just came by to make sure. They were found with gunshot wounds on their chests and backs. They died instantly. But it might have been someone else. Toni was not their first victim you know."

"What? This happened to other teenage girls?"

"She was one of the lucky ones." He said, his head down. "They let her live."

Those poor girls, my poor daughter.

I made up my mind not to tell her.

After she went to bed, I was going to tell the rest of the team.

They were all in shock!

"And he thought one of us had killed them?" Natasha asked in disbelief.

"He was just asking since they were all found with gunshot wounds. And a few people here just happen to know how to use a firearm." I said.

"We wouldn't have done it, even if we knew. Imagine what that would have done to Toni. You know how she feels about killing people." Clint said.

That was true.

Toni didn't think that anyone deserved to die, even if they committed one of the most horrible crimes ever.

She thought everyone deserved a second chance.

To start over.

Toni POV

I was laying in bed that night.

I could hear the conversation downstairs.

So they had found the twin's real father.

But that he was found dead.

Other people might have thought that he got what he deserved, but not me. I just think he wasn't in his right mind at the time and would come around soon.

It got quiet downstairs. Then I heard the lights being turned off.

A few seconds later, Steve came into the bedroom.

He quietly changed into his pajamas and climbed into bed.

I felt him put his arm around me.

I let several minutes pass by before I said anything.

"What do you think about the name 'Willow'?" I asked him.

"For what?" He asked.

"For the baby." I said, turning over and wrapping my arms around him. "We already know one's a girl so I decided to pick a name. What do you think? Willow Evangeline Stark?"

"Stark?" Steve asked.

"Well I got pregnant before we got married so they are technicality Stark babies."

Steve thought for a minute. "Fair enough" he said finally.

"And Pepper told me today that she and Dad have been trying for a baby with no success, and I don't think it's fair that the Stark family should stop with them. But the next baby will be a Rogers. I promise." I said rubbing his huge bicep.

"I love the name Willow." Steve said kissing my forehead. "But what about the other baby?"

"Anthony Howard if it's a boy. And Brooklyn Isabella it's a girl." I said.

"If it is a boy, you'd be naming him after your father and grandfather, you know that right?"

"I know. I never met my grandparents. Dad never talks much about them."

"Well" Steve sighed. "Your Dad and grandfather never had a good relationship. He never wanted to be like that, which is probably why he gives you so much love and attention. Both of his parents were killed in a car accident when he was about your age."

"That's terrible." I whispered. "How'd Dad take it?"

"It hurt him very much. He loved both of them and had no one else at the time. But now, he's starting to rebuild his family, starting with Pepper, then us, than you, and now, the twins." Steve put his hand on my stomach.

So Dad had a family again. That made me very happy. But more so that I got to carry on the Stark legacy.

"Did you ever meet my grandfather?" I asked

I heard Steve chuckle. "Yes, I did."

"What was he like?" I asked eagerly

00

My due date was like three weeks away. It seemed like everything had gone by so fast.

In three weeks, the twins were going to be here.

I was so excited. So was Steve.

Everyone else, especially my Dad, seemed nervous.

It was understandable since I wanted to do a home delivery instead of going to the hospital.

We decided it was safe to go out shopping again. Just Pepper, Natasha, and I. The boys stayed home.

Steve was calling like every five minutes.

"I'm fine." I said after Steve called for like the hundredth time.

"Are you sure?" He said frantically through the phone.

"Yes" I said. "Or I would call you otherwise." I hung up.

"Let me guess." Natasha said. "That was Steve."

"Who else would it be?" I said

"Well your father has been calling no-stop checking on you also." Pepper said.

"I'm surprised Bruce hasn't called." Natasha said.

That was true. Bruce was supposed to deliver the babies, surely he would be calling.

But we hadn't heard a word from him.

A few days later, Fury had stopped by along with Maria and Phil Coulson. Nothing important just hanging out.

We were all just sitting around and talking when I got this sharp pain.

"Whoa, easy there with the kicks." I said softly.

"Are you OK?" Pepper asked.

"Yeah I'm OK. Just a few cramps." I said and tried to ignore the pain.

It didn't stop, it just got worse. "I think I'll go lay down for a little while." I said to Pepper and headed up to the bedroom.

When I reached my room, the cramps got slightly worse.

I laid down in bed. But that didn't help one bit.

I shifted to my side. Nothing.

I climbed out and fell into the big chair by the bed. This felt so much better.

The cramps started up again. Now they were really painful!

I decided to time them.

Fifteen minutes apart.

Could I be in labor? My due date wasn't for another two weeks!

I got another one, I looked at the stopwatch, it had been only ten minutes! Now I was sure of it. The cramps I was feeling were actually contractions.

But I wasn't really sure what to do. I wanted to call Bruce, but he and everyone else were downstairs having a good time.

I shifted and found a comfortable position. I got another contraction that caused me to groan in pain.

"Is everything alright?" J.A.R.V.I.S asked, sounding very concerned for an A.I.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said quickly.

Tony POV

The guests left and Toni had gone to bed.

Clint and Natasha were watching a movie.

Bruce was sitting on the couch looking down at his tablet.

Steve was cleaning up.

I went to go fix myself a drink.

I noticed that Pepper seemed bothered by something. She kept looking towards the stairs every few minutes.

"Everything Ok Pepper?" I asked.

"I don't think so." She said. "Toni was acting very strange. She kept wincing in pain, then she went to go lay down. But I keep getting this feeling like something is not right. Do you think I should go check on her?"

"I'm sure she's fine." I said.

"But Tony, I think she might..."

"She's not due for another two weeks. It's probably a false alarm." I said.

"Let's hope so." Pepper said.

We went to join the others in the living room. Steve followed a few minutes later.

"Sir, I should inform you that miss Toni is in desperate need of Dr. Banner's assistance." J.A.R.V.I.S said.

For a minute, everyone froze. That could only mean one thing.

Pepper was the first to react. She shot up and ran upstairs.


	17. Chapter 17

Toni POV

I was curled up in the big chair by the bed when Pepper bursts in, making me jump.

"Why didn't you tell us you were in labor?"

"I...thought it was a false alarm. My due date is two weeks away. But apparently J.A.R.V.I.S told you otherwise." I said.

"Well, multiples usually come early." she said.

"I should have known that." I shifted at the next contraction.

"Contractions still coming?"

"Oh yes, a lot stronger now."

"We should get you into bed." She tried to help me to my feet.

"I tried that. But it was just torture on my back."

"OK. Whatever makes you comfortable."

The door opened again and Steve, Clint, and Dad walked in.

Steve came over to me.

"Hey." he said softly, hugging me gently.

"Ready to become a Dad?" I asked him.

He chucked nervously.

I squeezed his hand as I got another contraction.

We tried several different poses to help with labor. Some of them, I read in a book. The one that seemed to help the most was when Steve and I were sort of slow dancing. I rested my head on his chest whenever I got a contraction.

About ten minutes later, Bruce and Natasha came into the room carrying towels, blankets and other things for the delivery.

Bruce looked at me.

"You should be in bed." He said.

"I think they have a better solution." Natasha said, gesturing towards me and Steve, we were crouched on the floor now.

"OK. There's always something else." He said as he set the towels on the bed.

"Anything beats being in bed." I said.

A few hours passed by and the contractions started to get stronger. Steve and I had to try a different pose every few minutes.

I noticed that I was drenched in sweat.

I had to get out of these clothes. I was still in the jeans and blouse I had on earlier when we had company.

I stood up and made my way to the bathroom.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" Everyone screamed at once.

I turned around.

"I'm just going to wash up." I said. "As you probably noticed, I'm a wreck."

"No you look fine." Steve said. He obviously didn't want me to go anywhere. He was also probably afraid that I would deliver in the bathroom.

"Thanks Steve, but I really need to change." I said.

A new thought occurred to me. "Where's Fury, Maria and Coulson?"

Natasha spoke up. "They had some business to take care of. They were kind of upset. They really wanted to be here."

"Oh." I said as I walked over to the bathroom. They let me go without any more complaints.

I went into the bathroom and shut the door. I could feel them listening to everything that went on while I was in there. A clear invasion of privacy if you ask me. But I understood their concern.

I took off my sweat drenched clothes and put them in the laundry basket.

I put on a black tank and shorts.

I was in the middle of washing my face when there was a knock at the door.

"Toni, can I come in?" It was Pepper.

"Sure." I said as I dried off.

Pepper stepped in and shut the door behind her.

"They didn't want you to be in here alone. They were starting to get worried."

"Understandable." I muttered as I pulled my hair back in a ponytail.

"You ready to go back out yet?" She asked me.

"No, can we stay in here?"

"Well Bruce wants to keep close watch on you and he can't do that in here."

"I know, I'll let him know if anything happens. But we haven't been able to talk face-to-face like this yet. And I want to take this time to do that." I said.

Pepper and I stayed in the bathroom and just talked.

She asked me if I knew about the Avengers before I came to live with them. I told her that my friends and I would always talk about how awesome it would be if heroes actually existed.

I had several contractions while in the bathroom, but they weren't bad, so there was no need to call Bruce in.

She asked me what I was doing when the extraterrestrial attack on New York happened. She was just making conversion.

"It was a nice day, so we were all outside." I explained. "It was a little after lunch and my friend Evangeline and I were laying on our backs in the grass. We were just watching the clouds. Or she was, I was ready for a nap. Then suddenly she sits up and yells out: 'What is that?!' I looked around too but didn't see anything out of the norm so I brushed it aside. Mr. Sims started to tell her the name of a specific type of cloud. Then she screams out: 'No! That!' That's when I saw the wormhole. Then Mr. Sims ran inside. We continued to watch and saw all these aliens coming from the wormhole. Then Iron man trying to fight them off. Then Mr. Sims comes out and tell us all to come inside and watch the news, saying that we have got to see this. That was my first glimpse of the Avengers. Where were you?"

"On a plane. Flying out to D.C." Pepper said.

"You were always so busy?"

She nodded. "I work nonstop for your Dad's company, while he gets to stay home and fool around."

I laughed at this. Dad was pretty crazy.

There was a knock at the door.

"You alright in there?" It was Steve.

"Yeah, just fine!" I called out to my husband.

Neither of us said anything for a moment.

"Can I tell you something?" I asked Pepper.

"Sure sweetie." She said.

"Well I just wanted to say that-AHH!" I was hit with another contraction, I just about lost my balance, this was the worst one yet. Pepper rushed over to steady me.

"Just breath, just breath." She said.

I leaned against the wall, just breathing steadily until it passed. Then I felt liquid running down my legs.

"I think my water broke." I said.

"Then it's time to get out of here."

"Let me get out these wet clothes first."

Not wanting to be totally immodest, I put on a short black skirt and Pepper and I stumbled out of the bathroom.

Steve and Clint rushed over to help.

By the time we reached the bed, I was drained of energy.

"Guys, just, stop right here" I said as I got down on my knees and rested my head on my arms.

I could feel everyone staring at me.

I could do what I wanted. They weren't the ones going through labor pains.

"We're going to help you into the bed." Clint said in my ear.

He and Steve tried to lift me up.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" I barked before I could stop myself, Steve and Clint both backed away.

I buried my face in my arms.

"We tried." I heard Steve say.

Dad came over too me. He gently rubbed my back.

"You know we only want what's best for you. Please, you need to get into the bed. It'll make everything a lot easier." He said softly.

Sure. A lot easier for Bruce.

I refused to move. I bit my lip as I got another contraction.

I stayed in this position for a little bit. Steve, Clint, and Dad took turns giving me back massages. I think Dad did the best job. He seemed to know how to relax the stiff muscles in my back.

After a while, I heard Bruce mumbling something to Steve, I must be getting close.

"Toni, you can always lean back against Steve. I want you to be as comfortable as possible, but you need to get in bed." He said.

That sounded better.

I nodded. "OK" I said softly.

Steve climbed onto the bed and leaned back against the pillows. Dad helped into the bed and I leaned back against Steve. I had to admit, this was MUCH more comfortable than the hardwood floor.

"Excuse me." Bruce said as he covered me with a blanket the cut off my skirt. He pulled up my tank and pressed his stethoscope on my stomach.

"Everything sounds good. Shouldn't be long now." He said.

Steve held my hand. "Need me to move or anything?" He asked

"No, stay just like you are." I said.

Something didn't feel right. Well apart from everyone watching me, it was too quiet.

"Dad." I called

He was over in a second. "Yes, princess?"

"Can you get me my iPod?"

He fished it out of the stash on my nightstand.

"Why do you want this?" He asked

"It's too quiet in here." I put in my ear buds and listened to Linkin Park: Numb.

Tony POV

My daughter had been in labor all night long. She was taking it like a champ.

She was covered in sweat that made her skin gave off this beautiful glow.

Natasha had read that childbirth was supposed to be natural and beautiful and Toni was definitely demonstrating that.

Before, she looked miserable, angry, and ready to kill.

Now she had her iPod and was doing better. She looked calm and peaceful.

"How is listening to music going to relax her at a time like this? Especially rock?" Pepper asked after Toni plugged in her iPod.

I shrugged. Whatever made Toni happy.

A smile formed on her face. I looked at her iPod, she was listening to Gym class heroes: The fighter.

It fit, she definitely was a fighter. She had lost her parents at a tender young age, grew up in foster care, and has a murderer after her. She could have chosen to have a bad attitude, but she was trying to make the best of her new family. Even though we will never replace what she lost.

Toni suddenly gasped sharply and stiffened.

"Is it time?" Pepper asked.

Bruce nodded.

Everyone shifted around excitedly.

Pepper was hugging me and squealing softly.

Clint and Natasha actually looked happy for once.

Steve was smiling excitedly, trying hard to keep still since Toni was laying against him.

"Toni? Hey Toni!" Bruce said to my daughter.

Steve pulled out her ear buds.

"Hm what?" She said opening her eyes sleepily.

"It's time. Whenever you feel a contraction, I need you to push." Bruce said.

He lifted the end of the blanket and gently pushed her legs apart to get her ready.

Pepper had the camera ready and everyone surrounded the bed.

Toni cringed at the first contraction and started pushing.

"Come on Toni! Push!" Bruce encouraged her.

Toni groaned loudly.

"Good, I can see the head. The baby has a lot of black hair." Bruce said

Toni smiled. She started pushing again a few minutes later as the next contraction came, not stopping until the baby was out.

"We have a little girl!" Bruce announced.

Tiny cries filled the room as Banner cleaned her off with a towel. It was the most beautiful sound I ever heard.

Beside me, Pepper started crying. I put my arms around her.

Clint and Natasha seemed to be fighting back tears.

"It's ok little one." Bruce said as he wrapped the baby up in a blanket. She calmed and stopped crying.

Bruce laid her in Toni's arms.

Toni and Steve gushed over their baby girl whom they named Willow Evangeline.

"She's beautiful." Toni said softly.

"She's...just...perfect." Steve seemed to be at a loss for words upon seeing the newborn in Toni's arms.

A few minutes later, Toni gasped sharply and groaned. Pepper quickly took Willow from her arms.

Now we were going to see what the other baby was.

Clint and Natasha had made bets.

Clint bet $75.00 if it was another girl.

Natasha bet the same if it was a boy.

Now, they were about to find out.

Toni began pushing again. She seemed to be having a more difficult time with this one.

"Stubborn little thing."Bruce muttered.

Toni stopped pushing.

"Don't stop now. You're so close." Steve said.

"Let her catch her breath Steve." Bruce said.

He was right, Toni was breathing hard and needed a short rest.

She started pushing again. "Oooooh, it hurts!" She groaned.

"You're so close." Bruce said. "The head is out. Just give me one more big push to get the shoulders out and then you'll be done."

Toni bore down with all her strength to get her baby out.

Bruce frowned. "Something's wrong." he mumbled.

"What is it!?" Everyone said at once. That was something no one wanted to hear at a time like this.

"The umbilical cord's wrapped around the neck." Bruce said finally. "Toni, I need you to stop pushing, I'm gonna try and loosen it."

He was able to loosen it and Toni pushed the baby out.

"It's a boy!" Bruce said excitedly.

This little guy had came out screaming! Bruce cleaned him then wrapped him up and let Toni hold him. He whimpered and squirmed in her arms.

"It's OK." She said softly and he stopped squirming. She lovingly kissed him on the head.

She and Steve named him Anthony Howard.

After me and Dad, how nice of them.

Steve cautiously tried to touch Anthony's little head, but held back.

"You can touch him, Steve. You won't hurt him." Toni said.

Steve gently stroked the little boy's dark hair. Steve chuckled softly as Anthony leaned into his touch.

"Pay up." Natasha said to Clint. He lost the bet.

"Later." he grumbled. He walked over to the bed and Toni handed little Anthony to him and relaxed against Steve.

Everyone was gushing over the twins. It was a happy time for all of us. Even though they were two weeks early, Bruce said they were just perfect.

"Want to hold her?" Pepper asked, holding Willow out to me.

"No, I shouldn't." I said. I had no idea how to hold a baby.

"Here." Pepper placed her in my arms and adjusted them to support her.

Little Willow squirmed in my arms to get comfortable.

I gently kissed her on the head. She opened her deep blue eyes that resembled her mother's.

She looked just like Toni when I first saw her, so tiny and and full of life.

I smiled at the newborn in my arms then looked at my daughter who seemed to have fallen asleep, her head on Steve's shoulder. He was kissing her repeatedly.

There was a soft knock at the door. I looked up to see Rhodey standing in the doorway.

"Did I miss it?" He asked

"Yeah, you're about fifteen minutes late." I said

Rhodey looked at Willow sleeping in my arms. "A girl?" He asked

"A girl and a boy." I said

"Twins?" Rhodey said

I nodded "Want to hold her?" I asked.

He nodded and I handed her to him.

"She's adorable." he gushed. "What's her name?"

"Her name is Willow."

Rhodey smiled "Where's her brother?"

"Clint has him." I said and called for Clint to come over so he could see Anthony.


	18. Chapter 18

Toni POV

I woke up the next morning not really remembering what had happened the last night.

The last thing I recall was my conversion with Pepper.

Everything after that was a blur.

I tried to sit up, I felt somewhat sore so I just used an extra pillow to support myself.

I turned my head and saw Steve standing next the oversized crib.

Why would he be looking in the crib? Unless I had the twins last night. Maybe I did.

"Hi!" I called out.

Steve took one last look in the crib before coming over to me.

"Hey" he said as he leaned in for a kiss. "How are you feeling?"

"I feel OK." I said. "No gym today?"

"I thought about it, but didn't want you three to be alone."

I smiled and looked over at the crib. "How are they?"

"Their asleep."

"Aw. I really wanted to hold them."

"They'll probably be awake soon. But right now, you need to rest."

"Oh I'm well rested, but I could use a snack or something. I'm starving."

"OK, I'll be right back." Steve left the room. A second later he poked his head back in. "Do not get out of bed. That is an order."

"Fine" I said.

I decide to watch a little T.V. After flipping through a few channels, I settled on Life Time. It was in the middle of a movie, something about a newborn baby getting kidnapped.

I watched for a few minutes. But then I thought 'Why am I watching this'?

I changed the channel and watched the news. That didn't help much either. It was all about the birth of the twins!

News around here did travel fast.

I didn't know this at the time, but paparazzi was surrounding every square inch of the tower, trying to get a glimpse of the twins. But they couldn't get in. It also probably wasn't much help since we were on like the fiftieth floor.

I changed the channel again and settled on Transformers, it just so happened to be one of my favorite movies.

Steve came back in with a plate of bacon, eggs, and toast.

I started to get out of bed to go sit at the little coffee table.

Steve gave me a look.

"OK." I climbed back in.

After breakfast, Steve sat on the bed and watched the movie with me.

A cry came from the crib and Steve rushed over.

"Shhh, Willow. Don't cry." He said as he lifted her out and gently rocked her. She didn't stop. He tried to put the pacifier in her mouth. She wouldn't take and cried even louder.

"She's hungry." Steve said, handing her to me.

I was about to try breastfeeding for the first time.

Steve went out to get Pepper.

She didn't need to be in here for this, did she?

But instead of complaining, I let Pepper, Natasha, and Betty watch.

"Aww that's too cute." Gushed Natasha.

I didn't see anything cute about this. But it did seem like I was bonding with my baby girl. It was amazing how much love I felt for her at that moment.

Now I kinda knew how Dad felt about me.

After Willow was done, I tried Anthony, but he was more interested in sleeping.

Later that day, Steve finally let me get out of bed. He had to help me down the stairs. He put Willow in my arms once he sat me down on the couch, she went right to sleep.

Pepper was cuddling with Anthony.

Steve went down to the gym.

Bruce walks in. He smiled when he saw me.

"You decided to get out of bed I see." He said.

"Yeah, I spent way too long in that bedroom."

"Well it's good to see that you're doing OK. You seemed really tired last night."

"I was." I said

"Well as long as you're up, you need to take it easy. Don't do anything that could cause you to get hurt. No lifting heavy things, no climbing stairs, take the elevator, unless of course, you have help."

"Sure." I said "Want to hold her?"

Bruce took Willow from my arms and snuggled with her a bit before giving her back to me and going downstairs to his lab.

A few seconds after he left, Anthony started crying. He was probably hungry now.

Pepper and I traded. She took Willow, and I fed Anthony.

Turns out he was hungry.

Clint came into the room. When he saw me, he turned and walked out.

"It's OK Clint, you can come in." I said

"Are you sure?" He called, still not coming in.

"Positive."

He came back in but wouldn't look in my direction.

Tony POV

It's so weird how much everything has changed now that the twins were here.

Before when everyone got up in the morning, they went off and did their own thing. Now, every minute revolved around the next bottle, diaper, or outfit.

I noticed that Clint and Natasha were rather grumpy because they hardly got any sleep(not like they slept anyway), thanks to Anthony screaming every two hours.

Willow was the complete opposite from her brother. Even when she was hungry, she hardly ever made a sound.

"How do you know that she's just sleeping and not dead?" Clint asked.

"Watch." Steve said as he lifted Willow out of the crib and gently unwrapped her from the warm blanket.

"Jeez! And I thought Hulk's roar was loud!" Natasha said, covering her ears when Willow screamed.

Late one night, I couldn't sleep. So instead of tossing and turning, I got out of bed and went downstairs.

When I reached the living room, I saw Toni lounging on the couch, Anthony was squirming in her arms.

"He's not tired?" I asked.

She shook her head. "I think he does this on purpose. He sleeps all day so he can keep me up all night."

"Here" I said taking Anthony from her. "You go to bed, I'll stay up with him."

"No, you don't have to do that." She said.

"It's OK."

"Are you sure?"

I nodded.

"OK. Goodnight then." She stood up and went to her room.

"So you like to keep mommy up all night?" I said to Anthony. He squirmed in response.

I was headed to the workshop when he started crying.

"No no, don't cry." I tried to rock him but he wouldn't stop.

I figured he was hungry. I went into the kitchen and got a bottle from the freezer and stuck it in the microwave.

In the meantime, I tried to calm him so he wouldn't wake anyone.

When the bottle was warmed up, I fed him. He drank it greedily.

After that, I burped him. He let out a loud belch.

"Good boy." I said.

I sat on the couch to watch some T.V.

After a few hours, I started to get sleepy.

I turned off the T.V and headed to bed.

Anthony had fallen asleep a while ago, so I put him to bed in Steve and Toni's room.

I went to my room and crawled into bed.

Before I knew it, it was morning. I climbed out of bed and went downstairs.

Everyone was in the dining room eating breakfast.

Steve and Toni were sitting next to each other, each one had a baby.

Toni was nursing Willow. Steve had Anthony nestled in the crook of his arm.

"Toni, do you have to do that right now? Why can't you go somewhere else?" Clint complained. He was tired of always walking in the room to see Toni breastfeeding. No one else seemed to care.

"Clint, if their hungry, it doesn't matter where I am, I have to feed them." Toni said.

"Well can't you at least cover up?" Clint said, looking down.

Toni rolled her eyes.

"I suggests you get used to it." Natasha said.


	19. Chapter 19

Toni POV

Being a teen mom was not easy. It was a lot more work than I intended.

Well, that was partly my fault. Because everyone was gone so much, I felt like I had to do everything on my own.

Bruce must have noticed that it was taking it's toll on me.

He was probably right, I hardly ever slept, ate, or had any time to relax. And what little sleep I got was interrupted by Anthony screaming.

Because of this, Dad and Pepper suggested that I get something else to help fill my time.

So after months of talking and convincing, they got me a job. They gave me two options.

Stark Industries, or S.H.I.E.L.D.

I picked S.H.I.E.L.D.

They put me to work right away. Just something I can do from home. Or I could clock in at HQ.

Now I was forced to let someone else take care of the twins twins so I wouldn't fall behind on my work.

I didn't notice before, but Steve was actually an amazing dad. He loved and cared for the twins like they were his own. Well, he did sign adoption papers so, legally, he is their father.

Today I was by myself. Everyone else was out. I was a little nervous about being alone with the twins while also having a job.

But it seemed to work out fine. When I had a phone call, I just laid them down on a blanket.

Sometimes they complained, other times, they were fine.

Usually they would coo with each other on the floor. It was so funny to watch them communicate with each other, it was like they had their own little language.

Apart from the new job, my best friend, Evangeline, had been adopted by a S.H.I.E.L.D agent. We got to spend a lot of time together.

Sometimes she would come over and help with the twins. I enjoyed having her around.

I was in the middle looking up something on my computer when Dad and Pepper come in.

I also noticed that they were moving slower than they normally did. Was one of them hurt and the other was helping?

Wait, someone's arms were around them.

Dad and Pepper stopped at the couch. Then gently helped someone down.

When they moved, I saw Jason sitting on the couch.

"Thanks guys." he said softly. Dad and Pepper left the room.

Part of me wanted to rush over and hug him but he seemed so fragile that I held back.

Jason looked over at the twins. He smiled. "Who's are they?"

"Their mine." I said.

Jason looked a bit shocked. "You were pregnant? Aren't you a little young?"

"Yeah, I know. But it wasn't supposed to happen. At least not yet." I said picking up Willow as she started to fuss.

Jason stared at me blankly.

I decided the whole situation was too much to explain so I went with how I felt.

"I meant that I didn't want to have kids yet. I wanted to wait until I was a bit older." I said cradling Willow.

"How much older?" Jason asked

"Maybe not until I was at least twenty. You want hold her? I've got to get back to work." I said

Jason nodded eagerly and I laid Willow in his arms.

"Try not to bounce her. She tends to spit up a lot." I went back to my computer.

Jason cuddled with her. He was really good with babies.

S.H.I.E.L.D wasn't as much work as I thought, no wonder everyone got bored.

Anthony started crying. I picked him up and gently rocked him.

I sat down on the couch with Jason.

"I don't think we got to know each other." I said

"Well, other than our names, you're right." Jason said. "You first."

"There's not much to tell. I grew up in an orphanage. My parents died when I was really young, I hardly remember them. Then Dad took me home. Then I found out I was pregnant then got married to Steve." I said

"That's it?" Jason asked

"Yes, what about you?"

"My parents died when I was about six. My aunt Pepper took me in. Tony's been like a dad to me. I have no friends my age, they all think I'm weird. So I got a job at S.H.I.E.L.D, where I met the Avengers. You don't know how excited I was when I heard they were all moving here. I was always kind of lonely since I was the only kid here. And then, out of the blue, Tony decided to adopt. So I have a cousin." He smiled at me.

"And now second cousins." He tickled Willow's stomach. She squirmed and waved her arms.

"Why do they think your weird? I think you're pretty cool." I said

He smiled. "Well, not that type of weird. You see, boys my age are interested in, you know, girls, video games, and all that stuff. But me, I was always into weapons mastery, martial arts, stuff like that."

"That makes two of us." I said. "At the orphanage, I stood out as different because I was always into machinery and automatics. Which, apparently, is unusual for a girl."

"No, I don't think so." Jason said. "Everyone has different likes. So I don't think it's right to criticize someone because of their interests."

He did have a point, I was so lucky to have him as my cousin.

00

I was sitting up in bed later that night, the twins were sleeping in my arms.

There was a soft knock at the door and Steve walks in.

"Hi." I said. "How was your day?"

"It was good." He said as he took off his jacket. "Just had a few meetings. How was yours?"

"Same." I shrugged. "Got to spend some time with Jason. Other than that, nothing."

"How's he doing?"

"Pretty good for someone who had like twenty bullets removed from his body and countless surgeries."

Steve chuckled. "Yeah, that Jason is a fighter. How'd you do being home with the twins while now having a job?"

"Pretty good. Wasn't as bad as I intended."

"I would have thought you would have gone to bed by now since it's so late." He sat on the bed next to me.

"I just got these two to sleep, they were really cranky earlier. You mind changing her, Anthony won't let me put him down." I said.

"Sure."

He took Willow and carried her to the changing table. She complained loudly as he changed her diaper.

Instead of handing her back to me, he cradled her against his chest until she fell asleep, that was her favorite spot. He planted gentle kisses on her little head, breathing in that intoxicating baby smell he had grown to love, then carefully laid her down in the crib.

"Now his turn." He said taking Anthony. He started to cry but Steve calmed him and lovingly nuzzled him. Soon he went to sleep and Steve put him in the crib.

"Now you can go to bed." Steve said to me.

I smiled "You need to be home more often."

"I wish I could." He said tucking me into bed.

"Goodnight." I said.

Steve kissed my cheek.


	20. Authors note

Heeeeeyyyyyyy! I appreciate all my fabulous reviews. Thanks a bunch! I recently got a request that Toni and Steve have a date night. I'm not really good with this sorta thing so I could use some help. P/M any ideas you may have.

Again thanks for the reviews!


	21. Chapter 20

Toni POV

"Some guests have arrived. But, I have no idea who they are." J.A.R.V.I.S updated us one evening.

We all looked at each other.

I didn't know that we were expecting anyone.

"Shall I send them up?" Asked J.A.R.V.I.S.

"Might as well." Dad muttered under his breath.

A few minutes later, the elevator doors opened and a couple steps in.

We stared at them for several minutes before anyone said anything.

"Um, hi?" I said awkwardly, trying to break the silence.

They continued to stare. At me. "What is your name?" The man asked.

"Uh...Toni." I said awkwardly.

"Toni?" The man said. "Is that short for something?"

"Yes. Short for Antonia." I said.

That's when they rushed over and began hugging and kissing me.

"Hey! What do you think your doing?!" I yelled, pushing them away.

The women started crying. "I knew we would find you."she said sobbing.

Everyone was staring at them. Dumbfounded looks on their faces.

"Who are you?" Asked Steve.

"Oh excuse me. We got caught up this moment we forgot to introduce ourselves. I'm Roberto Cortex. And this is my wife, Estelle. And I see you've all met our niece. Antonia Cortex." He pointed to me.

"Wait? Niece?" Clint asked, looking at me I shrugged, I had no idea who these people were.

"Maybe you guys should have some time to talk." Pepper said as she and the others left the room.

"It's so great to finally meet you!" Estelle squealed and tried to hug me. But I backed away.

"I don't have an aunt and uncle." I said. "You must have me confused with someone else."

"Oh no. We have the right girl. You don't know how long we've been searching for you." Roberto said.

"How did you even find me?" I did not like to hear that someone had been following me.

"We saw you at the shopping center a few months ago. So we followed closely and saw a striking resemblance of your mother so we knew it was you. You looked like you were pregnant at the time. Where you?" Estelle said.

So they had been following me.

"I was about five months pregnant then." I said.

"How old are you?" Roberto asked.

"I just turned eighteen." I said.

"You had a child when you were just seventeen?" Estelle asked.

I nodded and they both gasped.

"You can't stay here any longer. You and the baby should come and live us." Estelle said.

"I don't even know you people. And this happened when I still was in foster care. I was adopted into this family and I've grown to love them. And I can't go even if I wanted too." I showed them my ring.

They both gasped again. "You got married?"

I nodded.

They seemed disappointed.

"Here's our address if you ever want to come and visit." Estelle handed me a scrap of paper and she and Roberto left.

Steve came in after they were gone.

"What was that all about?" He asked

"Not exactly sure." I said. "I'm going to make a phone call." I went to get my phone and called S.H.E.I.L.D.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. Melinda speaking." A voice said on the other line.

"Hi can you connect me with Phil Coulson please?" I said.

"I'm sorry, but he's not available right now. Can I take a message?"

"Yes. Can you tell him that Antonia Rogers called?"

"Sure Miss."

"Thanks." I hung up.

The twins were awake from their nap and were full of energy.

Clint had put a blanket of the floor and he and Natasha were watching them, allowing Steve to take a break and me to go see the couple that had just left not too long ago.

The twins couldn't quite crawl yet, but it sure was entertaining to watch them try.

A few minutes later, my phone rang.

I went into the kitchen for some privacy before I answered it.

"Rogers." I said.

Coulson laughed at my voice. "You always sound so professional Toni. What can I do for you?"

"Can you look up everyone under the name of Cortex please?" I said

"Sure." A few minutes passed by. "There's seems to be nothing out of the norm. That meaning that it stops with you. Why?"

"Well a couple stopped by earlier today claiming to be my aunt and uncle. I wanted to know if there was any other family that I had."

"Well there seems to be nothing. Oh wait." I heard faint typing. "Your biological dad did have a brother. But there's not much about him. Other than that he's really untrustworthy, selfish, and a lot of other bad things. Good thing you didn't go and live with them. Did they ask you?"

"They did. But I said no of course. But why didn't my parents tell me about them?"

"We don't know. But we can find out. Why don't you pay them a visit?"

"Sounds like a great idea. I'm going over there right now." I hung up.

I went upstairs and grabbed my purse and keys.

"I probably won't be back until late so you think you can with them until then?" I asked Clint and Natasha.

"Sure, they won't be too much trouble." Clint said. He was holding Willow. She was smiling and babbling to him.

Anthony was making a desperate effort to crawl over to Natasha who was laying beside the blanket, but he couldn't get his legs to move.

I went down to my car and drove over to the address written on the scrap of paper my supposedly aunt and uncle gave me earlier.

It led me to an apartment complex.

I sat in the car for a few minutes, thinking about how I was going to handle this.

But I chickened out at the last minute.

I couldn't do this.

I turned the car around and headed back to the tower. Something made me stop at fragrance shop. I parked the car and went in.

I looked around for a few minutes when an associate came out from the back of the store.

"Can I help you find anything?" she asked.

"Just looking." I said.

I searched through men's cologne, trying to find Steve's favorite scent.

But I couldn't remember.

The associate walked up to me. "Not to creep you out or anything but, you look familiar."

"Oh really?" I said, blushing slightly.

"Yes, would you happen to be Captain America's bride?"

I smiled. "Yep that's me."

"I knew it. And I have the perfect fragrance for you." she went behind the counter and pulled out an exclusive scent. "This is our last one but it so happens to be the Captain's favorite. It's yours if you like."

"Oh no. I couldn't." I didn't want to take the very last one.

"Take it, it's fine. After all, it's for someone special." she smiled.

I couldn't help but smile back. I thanked her for it.

I shopped for a few more minutes and picked out a scent for myself. I thanked the associate for her time before I paid and left.


	22. Chapter 22

Toni POV

I pulled into the garage, turned off the car, and went into the elevator. It stopped after a few floors and dad stepped in.

"So how'd it go?" he asked.

"What?"

"Talking to the couple that was here earlier?"

"Oh. About that." I sighed. "I chickened out at the last second."

Dad chuckled. "I figured."

I playfully elbowed him in the ribs. "Oh yeah, you try talking to family members you never knew existed."

"Don't have any, so there."

"Lucky." I said under my breath.

Neither of us said anything for a moment.

"Bruce and I looked up everyone under your maiden name. And the only Cortex we found had just moved in from overseas and had never heard of you." Dad said.

"How do you know it wasn't...them?"

He didn't have to ask who I meant.

"Because they explained that they found out a wanted fugitive was hiding in the US using their name which caused them to be deported. Then the government saw that they were still in the system so they began investigating. So far, nothing."

"Have you tried calling or anything?"

"We did, but the line was disconnected."

"How did they know to come looking for me?"

Dad shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe someone put up missing posters of you."

"Why would they? My parents are dead and I grew up in an orphanage."

"Maybe your parents aren't dead."

Much as I wanted to believe that, it didn't seem relevant. Dad stepped off the elevator at his floor. I stayed in until I came to the right one.

I quietly went up the stairs and into the bedroom, the twins were asleep in the crib. I expected to find Steve already in bed, but he was gone.

I set my bags down on the bed and went into the bathroom to take a shower. There was a note on the cupboard that held the towels.

It said: 'Meet me in the penthouse."

-Steve

Why would he want me to go into the penthouse? We never went up there.

I decided to go anyway. By the closet was another note.

'Put on something nice.'

I opened the closet and pulled out a solid dark blue gown. Before I had the twins I might have considered it, but now, I wouldn't dream of it.

I tried it on anyway. It actually looked nice. I only had one sleeve but, it would do.

I did my makeup and pulled my hair back into a ponytail and let in drape over my shoulder.

I studied myself in the mirror.

Satisfied, I sprayed on some perfume and made went out of the bedroom.

The living room was still empty. Where was everyone?

I shrugged that off and walked into the elevator.

"Where too miss?" J.A.R.V.I.S asked.

"Penthouse please." I said.

The penthouse was where dad and Pepper hosted a lot of their company parties. I had never been up there but I heard it was pretty nice.

When I reached the penthouse, it was better that I imagined. There was a marvelous view of the city. For a second I was too stunned to say anything.

Steve was standing by the window. He was dressed in a tux. Dad probably got that for him. He hardly ever dressed up like that.

He turned when he heard the elevator doors shut behind me.

He gasped when he saw me. "Your just...beautiful."

"Aw thank you." I said. I felt my cheeks burning. "You set this thing up?"

"Yeah, it's been a while since we did something together. J.A.R.V.I.S, lights."

The lights dimmed and slow music filled the penthouse.

Steve stuck his hand out to me. "May I have this dance?"

I smiled. "Yes."

I took his hand. He his hand on my lower back, pulling me close. I couldn't reach his shoulder so I rested on his chest, he was that much taller than me.

And we danced.

I had no idea how romantic this would be. Just the two of us slow dancing with the lit up skyscrapers as our background. It made me forget about everything. All the problems: in my life were replaced by one thing: Love.

The song ended.

"Wow. I had no idea you were such a great dancer." I said.

"Well, uh..." Even in the dim light, I could tell he was blushing. "Your...parents took the time to show me a few steps."

"Well remind me to tell them that they are excellent teachers."

Steve chuckled.

We stayed in the penthouse for a long time, just talking. I told him all about growing up in thr orphanage, how my friends and I used to pretend that we had actual families. Every day, hoping to be adopted.

"My friends and I used to play this game where we would dress up like grown-up." I said. "We would walk in and pretend like we were adopting a kid. Every day, it was someone different. Mr. Sims, our caretaker would joke that we were rehearsing for the day that became a reality. But, from personal experience, it was nothing like that."

"Oh really?" Steve said. "What was it like?"

"It was this feeling of being overwhelmed. Like you want to believe it, but at the same time, it feels like a dream. And every day, you're afraid of waking up and finding yourself back in the orphanage. I bet that sounds pretty strange to you."

"No, it doesn't. I can relate to that. Kind of."

"How?"

"Um, it's a long story."

"Tell me. I know hardly nothing about you. I wanna know why everyone refers to you as 'The Captain'."

"Well...um...where do I start?"

"Any friends, family? What was your childhood like?"

I saw sadness creep into his eyes. I quickly changed the subject.

"What about...hobbies? Sports you might have liked?"

His eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry. I...I...I have to go." He quickly stood and rushed to the elevator.

Tony POV

I was in tha lab later that night. Everyone had gone to bed.

I knew, I just knew, Pepper would be down here any minute now to pull me out and drag me to bed.

As if on cue, I heard faint footsteps approaching.

I turned, ready to make another lame excuse to explain why I was up so late. But to my surprise, it wasn't Pepper who came into the room, it was Toni.

She looked like she was getting ready for bed. She had on yoga pants and a tank. She looked like something was preying heavily on her mind.

"How was you guy's night in the penthouse?"

She looked up. "It was really nice. Until I...I didn't mean to hurt him, but I asked Steve about his childhood, his family, friends."

"I don't see anything wrong with that, I mean you guys are still getting to know each other."

"I know. But when I asked, he looked like he was gonna have an emotional breakdown. Before I could ask what was wrong, he bolted for the elevator."

I knew exactly what was wrong. I didn't want to tell her, it would only make her feel worse.

I took a seat on the bench and gestured for her to join me. "Steve's been through a lot. Maybe you asking him about it brought back some bad memories. Maybe he doesn't want to be so open about it. Give it time. He'll come around soon."

"I hope so. It's scary because I feel like I don't really know him. I mean, when we were dating, he only told me a handful of stuff about himself. I feel like he's hiding something." She looked down.

I put my arm around her and pulled her close. "Well, we all have our secrets. Some are best kept that way. If Steve is uncomfortable talking about his past, then, don't push it. Now you go on to bed. I don't want both of us getting into trouble by your mom."

She giggled. "Ok, goodnight dad." She disappeared up the stairs.


	23. Chapter 23

Toni POV

I took dad's advice and Steve. I didn't ask about his past, and he didn't bring it up. But we would talk occasionally about nothing sometimes.

I think our relationship grew stronger because of that.

00

We got results from the couple who came to the tower, the ones who claimed to be my relatives. They were, in fact, wanted by the FBI. The had been on the run for more than five years.

They had taken desperate measures to avoid going to prison. Changing identities, getting plastic surgery, even changing fingerprints.

But that one visit had busted them and they were on their way to prison.

But we never knew why they wanted me.

No one could explain.

00

It was a nice day so we all headed out to the park. Except for Jason, Pepper still didn't want him to leave the tower since he was still recovering from his surgeries.

It was about ten minutes away so we decided to walk.

Steve was pushing the twins in the double stroller.

I had dressed them up so cute today. Willow had on a pink and blue frilly top with shorts. Anthony had on a solid blue shirt and shorts. He also had on a pair of sunglasses, almost like Dad's. Willow had on pair of pink heart shaped sunglasses.

When we got to the park, I decided to go for a jog, I still needed to lose the last of my "baby weight". Pepper and Natasha were playing with the twins on the playground, the guys were hanging out under the pavilion.

I plugged in my iPod and jogged around the park. It felt so good to just run and not have to worry about anything.

After a few miles, I stopped and took a drink of water before heading back.

Just before I got back to the playground, something caught my eye. Something was glowing in the grass.

I ran toward it and found a bright cosmic cube, like the one I seen in the photo in the weapons room on the S.H.I.E.L.D heli-carrier.

"Whoa" I breathed as I picked it up, but had to throw it down immediately. It was scorching hot!

I took off my jacket and wrapped it up and slid it into my backpack.

"Toni don't move!" My Dad's voice came out of nowhere. I froze and glaced around nervously.

"Up here." His voice came again.

I looked up to see Iron man hovering over me. Why was he here and why did he have my Dad's voice? And how did he know my name? Well, just about everyone did.

It landed beside me and the faceplate lifted up, revealing my Dad inside. I stared in shock. My dad really was Iron man.

The suit opened up and he stepped out. He laughed when he saw my face.

"I guess there is something I forgot to tell you." He said gesturing toward the suit.

"What is that?" I asked.

"It's my Iron man suit." He said

"How come I never seen it?" I had been living with him for more a year now.

"You ever been in my part of the lab?"

Before I could answer, the park suddenly became filled with helicopters. They landed all around us with dozens of people dressed in dark blue flooding out.

S.H.I.E.L.D.

But why were they here?

Only a few of them had weapons, the rest of the had some sort of sensors in their hands. They were looking for something.

Fury steppes out of one of the helicopters with Coulson at his side.

"Stark, you should remove her. We have to secure this whole area." He said.

Dad led me to some park benches where there was a pretty fountain. The suit followed us, which kind of freaked me out.

"What was that all about?" I asked.

"You remember the attack in Manhattan right? Well the main weapon used was the tesseract." He showed me a picture on his phone. "And S.H.I.E.L.D thinks it might be in this area."

"Hey I think I might-" I started before Dad got a holler from Clint. He got up and left, leaving me by myself.

I went to go join Pepper and the twins. She told me that we had to go home when I reached her.

About an hour later, the rest of the team came home, along with Coulson. He seemed frustrated. Everyone tried their best to ignore him.

"Stark, if we don't find it, who will?" He asked

"I don't know. But let's hope it's no one dangerous." Dad said

"Looking for the tesseract?" I asked.

Bruce signaled for me to keep quite. It was probably not good to agitate Coulson while he was clearly angry.

"Someone must have taken it soon after we got there." He said

"So, just track him down." Dad said "Isn't that how you found it before?"

"Hey Couls-" I started.

"Keep quiet unless you have some valid information!" Coulson snapped at me.

"Actually, I do." I said as I reached into my bag and pulled out my knotted jacket. I unwrapped it, everyone gasped at what was inside.

"Where did you find that?" Coulson asked.

"Found it near the playground." I said

"Well, I think you should give it to me. You don't know what the tesseract is capable of. How dangerous it is." He said moving toward me.

I shook my head. "After what happened last time, I think it should stay with me."

"We know what we're doing. We won't make the same mistakes again" Coulson said eagerly.

Did he really think I would just hand it over?

"Nope, it should stay with me." I said.

I placed it in a glass cube so it looked like decoration instead of the most powerful thing on earth.

Steve was a little uncomfortable with the idea of it in our bedroom. He said that HYDRA used it to power weapons during WWII and it brought back some bad memories.

So I put it in a safe behind a poster.

00

I was sitting in my office at HQ just finishing up some documents when there was a knock at the door.

"Come in!" I called.

Fury steps in.

Willow bounced over to him, squealing happily. Anthony was rather shy, so he was on my lap. He squirmed and babbled when he saw Fury.

He didn't give them a second thought. They were clearly too young to know the difference between an authority figure and a playmate.

"Here to talk about the tesseract?" I asked "If so, I don't think there is much else to say, Coulson gave me an earful this morning."

Fury smirked a bit. "No, I'm not here to interrogate you. There's a call for you on line two. But we're not sure if you should take it."

"Why not? Is it a criminal of some sort?" I asked

He nodded.

"I think I'll at least see who it is, if it's a criminal than I'll trace him." I said

"OK" Fury said. He sounded a bit afraid.

I picked up the phone and pressed the button for line two.

"Rogers speaking." I said into the phone.

"Rogers?" A gruff voice said. "What happened to Cortex?"

I looked at Fury. How did this guy know my maiden name?

"May I asks who's calling?" I said into the phone.

"That's not important." The voice said.

Yeah right.

I set Anthony down and traced the number on the phone. I had results within seconds. A profile popped up. Frank Castle, The Punisher.

"Frank Castle. Hey." I said into the phone. He was silent for a few minutes. I typed some more and found out where he was calling from. I signaled for Fury to come over to me. He looked at computer screen and immediately left.

"Now that we have officially met each other." Frank said. "It think it's time for you to know why I'm calling."

"No ones stopping you." I said sarcastically

"I would tell you over the phone but S.H.I.E.L.D would be on me in a second." Frank continued "But if it is possible, we can talk about it over dinner.

"You mean, like a date?" I asked

"Oh, yes."

I thought about it. I was going to have to talk it over with Steve. He probably wouldn't like it. But I might get some information out of this guy that might be useful.

"I'll have to think about it. And I'll have to talk it over with-"

"That wasn't a question, Cortex. You will meet me tomorrow at the fairy dock at 6:00. Do not be late" He hung up.

I sat there kind of dazed for a few seconds. Some creep wanted me to go on a date with him.

I heard one of the twins babbling. I looked down by my chair and found both of them peering curiously at me.

"You heard none of that." I teased. Anthony babbled something before he and Willow crawled away.

There was a call for sound-off outside my office. I picked up both of the twins, one in each arm, and headed out.

Everyone was lined up.

"Coulson!" José called

"Here" Coulson said

"Romanoff!"

"Here!" Natasha said

"Rogers!"

"Here!" Steve called rather loudly. I never heard him use that voice before.

"Rogers!" José called again. He meant me this time.

"Over here!" I called.

José turned towards me and then gave a nod to Evangeline who was checking off names.

He continued to call the names on the list until he got to Clint.

"Barton!" He called. No response.

"Barton!" Still nothing. Where was he? He never missed a sound-off.

Something was wrong.

Fury ordered immediate lock-down of the entire HQ.

We were told to stay where we were. I went to stand by Steve. The twins squirmed happily and reached out toward him. Steve decided to take Anthony.

"Where do you think he could be?" I asked Steve

"Well knowing Clint he probably went on a secret mission without telling anyone." Steve said.

My phone buzzed. I took it out of my pocket and looked at it. I had a text message from and unknown number.

"Who's that?" Asked Steve peering at my phone.

"Don't know." But I got my answer when I checked the message.

It said: "Don't even think about calling anyone that might interrupt our dinner. His life will depend on it."

Below it, was a picture of Clint tied to a chair with a gunman with his weapon poised above Clint's head. He was battered and bruised like he had been in a fight.

Frank Castle had kidnapped Clint.


	24. Chapter 24

Tony POV

I got a call from Fury saying that there had been a kidnapping.

I feared that it was Toni. Or worse, one of the twins. I was quite shocked to hear it was Clint.

Toni told us about Castle's plan.

"How do you know that this whole thing not a setup or trick?" I asked her the next day.

"If it is, I'll have backup." She said

"But you heard what this guy said. If you call anyone, Clint dies!" Natasha said. She was truly afraid.

"I won't let that happen, Nat. I promise, Clint will be just fine." Toni said.

"If he wants to talk to Toni, then why did he kidnap Clint?" Asked Bruce.

"Maybe he took the most determined of the team." Steve said softly.

None of this made sense.

"How do you know that the person who called and whoever kidnapped Clint are the same?" Bruce asked

He did have a point. If you kidnap someone, you don't arrange for someone else to meet you for dinner.

Toni looked at her watch. "I should go get ready." she said as she left the room.

Toni POV

In my room, Natasha was helping me pick out an outfit.

"No, more seductive." She said and I went back in my closet to change again. I went with a pair of dark wash jeans, a crop top and cardigan.

"Much better." She said with an evil grin.

Their plan was for Castle to be so into me that he wouldn't notice them looking for Clint. I would have an earpiece hidden in one of my earrings so they could hear everything.

Everything was working out perfectly. Steve drove me to the fairy dock. He was shaking the whole time.

"Relax, everything's going to be ok." I said.

He only nodded.

Just before we reached our destination, several black cars surrounded us.

Steve stopped the car.

Director Fury stepped out. Another man stepped beside him and gestures for us to come out of the car.

We obeyed.

"Where are you two headed?" Fury asked.

"To the fairy dock, Castle asked me to meet him there." I said.

Fury glared at me. I cringed.

"Who arranged this?"

"He did."

"And you agreed?"

"It's not like he gave me much of a choice."

Fury's expression softened a bit. "I see. I want you to return home."

"What about Clint?"

"We'll search for Barton. Rogers, come with me." Steve followed Fury into one of the cars then they left.

Castle said to meet him at the fairy dock. I was afraid of what would happen if I didn't show.

Steve told me everything would be just fine.

So I was sitting on the couch, phone in my hands, waiting for an update to how things were going.

Jason was on the floor playing with the twins. He seemed to sense my stress level was sky high and kept them occupied.

He was doing really good. He was able to use the stairs on his own. He might be able to return to work soon

Hours passed before I finally got a call from Steve.

I answered it.

"They found him!" He sounded happy.

"That's so cool! How's he doing?" I asked

"He was in pretty bad shape when we found him. We had to rush him to the hospital. The doctor is with him now. He says he doesn't want to spend another minute here. He had to have a little surgery, but that didn't seem to bother him one bit." I could hear Clint complaining in the background.

"Put him on." I said.

"Um, not right now." Steve said. "But maybe you can come by later."

"OK sounds good." I hung up.

"Who was that?" Jason asked.

"That was Steve. Clint's going to be OK."

"What do you mean?" Jason said, confused "Was he injured on a mission?"

I figured that it was too complicated to explain so I brushed that aside and played with the twins alongside him. They were trying to walk now, but could only stand for about thirty seconds at a time.

Anthony grabbed Jason's shirt and pulled himself up. I pulled out my phone and started video taping them.

Willow looked at me and cooed and reached out toward her little pink bear that lay a few feet away from her.

"Here play with this." I said handing her a baby doll that lay beside her, still video taping with my phone.

Willow stood up. I figured that she was just going to fall again. But then she took a step, then another, than another. She was walking! She walked across the room, got the bear and sat on her knees in a little gymnastic-like pose

"Did you see that?! My little girl walked!" I said happily.

"I was sitting right here, how could I have missed it." Jason said nonchalantly. He clearly didn't get it.

"J.A.R.V.I.S, send that video to everyone one my contact list." I said

"Right away miss." The A.I replied.

After a while, Anthony decided to follow his sister's example. But instead, he tripped on a toy and fell on top of her. She shoved him off and he started crying. She gave him a look that clearly said: "Really?"

Jason and I couldn't help but laugh at them.

Tony POV

"Get this thing out of my arm! NOW!" Clint demanded, trying to pull out his I.V. but Natasha wouldn't let him.

"You gotta leave it, Clint. As long as you're here, you need the I.V." She said.

"I feel just fine. Why can't I go?" He said

"Because about three hours ago, you were in surgery." Steve said.

Clint grumbled. He never did like hospitals, or needles or anything like that. We often had to force him to get medical attention even though he swore he was fine.

"You'll be out of here in no time Legolas." I said.

A few weeks later, Clint was discharged from the hospital.

"I am not going in that!" He said stubbornly when Natasha tried to get him in the wheelchair.

"It's to make sure that you don't injure yourself on the way out." Natasha said.

Clint folded his arms and refused to comply.

"Don't make me force you. Cause trust me, it will not be pleasant." Natasha threatened.

"Fine" Clint said and sat in the chair and Natasha wheeled him out and we went home.


	25. Chapter 25

Toni POV

I shifted the phone in my hand. "Ev, I would love to go shopping but I gotta babysit."

"I didn't know you were willing to do that with the twins." Evangeline said through the phone.

"Well not really." I said stirring a pot of homemade soup. "I have to take care of Clint, he just got out of the hospital and is not taking it easy like he should."

Evangeline laughed. "Yep, that sounds like Clint. Need any help or anything?"

"Not really. But you're welcome to stop by." I said. "Oh, did you get my video of the twins?"

"Yes I did. It's like they just were born yesterday and now their walking."

"Yeah, they've done a lot in just a few weeks. We just started potty-training. We have to put child locks on everything since they are quite curious. But, that's what you gotta deal with when you have kids. You know, Steve and I are thinking about having a third." I said.

"Don't you think you should wait until the twins are old enough? You know, not technically babies anymore." Evangeline asked.

"I thought about that, but I read that siblings that are closer in age are close in general. So I think it won't be a problem." I said.

I heard the sound of someone walking toward the stairs. The twins weren't allowed near them yet so there was a gate blocking their way. And Jason was still in his room.

"Hang on a sec." I said to Evangeline. "Get back on the couch Clint!" I called.

He walked back to the couch and pouted, just like a child. Natasha told him to listen to me while she was gone or else there would be consequences.

I poured some soup in a bowl and brought it over too him.

"Eat this, it'll make you feel better." I said before going back to talk to my best friend.

I looked back and saw that Clint hadn't even touched it.

"Let me call you back." I said.

Evangeline hung up.

"Am I going to have to get Willow to feed you?" I teased.

Clint glared at me.

"I don't need any soup, I feel fine." He said

"You can't take your medicine on an empty stomach." I said

He still refused to comply. He could be so stubborn sometimes.

"Clint, you need to take your medicine, otherwise, you'll be back in the hospital. No exceptions." I received strict orders from both the doctor and the pharmacy.

After a few minutes, Clint gave in. I gave him his medicine and he lounged on the couch and watched T.V.

"Mommy, I need to go potty!" Willow said, running up to me.

"OK sweetie, let's go." I said and we headed upstairs.

00

"So how'd it go?" I asked when Steve got home that night. I had put the twins to bed. I was sitting on the bed with my computer.

"It's not like he gave us anything to work with. He's being kept in a holding cell until further notice." Steve said as she sat on the bed next to me.

"Do you think he'll open up?"

Steve shrugged. "Doesn't look like it. He's pretty secretive for a kidnapper."

"I wouldn't call that secretive. If tou kidnap someone, you use a untraceable number. That's if you don't want to get caught. At least, that's what I would would do. How long did it take you to find Clint?"

"Only a few hours. What are you getting at?"

"A few hours, Steve. That's what I'm stressing. How long does it take to find someone? Especially if S.H.I.E.L.D's after them?"

"A few days, sometimes a few months." Steve said.

"Yeah, I know. But why Clint? Why not you, or the twins?"

Steve sighed. "I don't know. And we found them both in broad daylight. I mean, it's almost like Castle wanted us to find him. It's like he wanted to get caught. We'll just have to see what Fury says."

"Is that everyone's way of trying to keep me quiet?

"No Toni, it's not like that. We just-"

"Whatever. I get it." I slipped off the bed. "I'm gonna go get a snack, want anything?"

"Nah, I'm fine." Steve stretched lazily on the bed.

I went downstairs for a drink of water and a snack. I opened the refrigerator and grabbed some fruit.

As I started to go upstairs, something hit me.

A...flashback?

*Flashback eighteen years earlier Toni POV*

_"Antonia, querido, wait for mommy!"_

_My mom, Alejandra, called after me as I ran ahead. _

_I stopped, babbling for them to hurry. I was really excited that day._

_We were shopping at the mall. Mainly for me since I had outgrown just about everything. I needed new clothes, new shoes, a new bed, pretty much I needed a little of everything since I was a big girl now._

_We shopped for several hours then went to look for some new appliances. I was not interested so I my dad was holding me. I rested my head on his shoulder and watched as people went by and shopped. _

_Suddenly, my dad put me down on the ground and knelt down to my level. _

_"Princesa, it is time to play escondite." he said._

_That meant that I had to hide._

_"Now go. Remember, you don't want us to find you." My mom said with a playful smile._

_I giggled than ran off. _

_I had spotted the perfect hiding spot. It was a loose vent behind on of the displays. There was a space wide enough for me to crawl into. _

_I pulled the vent shut after I climbed in. _

_I listened for their footsteps, but they never came. I smiled, they were never going to find me._

_I waited for a long time and was starting to get sleepy. I couldn't fight it._

_After a long nap, I realized that I was still in the vent. _

_Where were mommy and daddy? They should have found me by now._

_I silently climbed out of the vent. The store was dark. No one was around. Stuff had been pushed over and scattered. The place was a mess._

_I heard faint footsteps. I quickly climbed back in._

_I saw a man with a huge weapon. He had on a black shirt and jeans. _

_He was scouting out the place, listening for any movement._

_Then he turned snd I saw his face._

_It was Frank Castle!_

_No, it couldn't have been. This man looked just like him only a bit younger. Probably was related to him somehow._

_His hardened expression made me cringe. I was careful not to make a sound._

_Eventually, he left. I waited until the sound of his footsteps faded into the darkness._

_I made my out out of the vent to search for my parents._

_"Mommy?" I said into the darkness._

_No answer._

_"Daddy?" I tried._

_Still no response. _

_I crept out, tripping over several items until I saw my mom's shoes sticking out from behind a broken stove._

_I walked up to her to find her and daddy on the floor. They were sleeping._

_"Mommy?" I said._

_She didn't answer._

_"Mommy, wate up." I said._

_She didn't move._

_"Mommy? Wate up." I pleaded with her._

_I was startled by the sound of faint footsteps coming from another part of the store. Maybe it was someone to help._

_The footsteps came closer. I looked up to see a man in a blue suit like mommy and daddy wore sometimes walking by._

_He turned towards me. _

_He let out a sigh of relief before running up to me. He scooped me up into his arms and ran out. _

_He kept my face covered, maybe so I couldn't see anything._

_I heard the sound of a helicopter, police cars, weapons reloading, and someone giving orders. He had taken me outside._

_"Director Fury!" the man shouted. "I found her!"_

_"Good, where was she?" Fury said._

_"She was...with them. Begging for them to wake up." the said. I could sense the pain in his voice. "What's gonna happen to her. Castle knows she's still alive and he's gonna be looking for her."_

_Fury must have stepped closer cause I could hear the sadness in his voice. "I'll worry about that."_

_I felt myself being passed into his arms_.

*Present day*

I slid down to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably.

My parents were dead.

I knew all along, but now it hit me on a deeper level. Ever since the attack on the tower, that's all everyone has been focused on. It caused all these horrible nightmares to reply in my mind.

After all these years and suddenly it hit me. I knew who killed my parents all along.

And it wasn't Frank Castle. It was someone who looked just like him. I can see why he would have been framed.

But to be sure, I was going to have to talk to him in person.

I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Princess what's wrong?" it was my dad.

I wiped away my tears. "I have to talk to Fury."


	26. Chapter 26

Toni POV

I stepped into HQ, quietly mumbling to myself.

I knew who the real kidnapper/killer was but I couldn't be sure. I was planning on talking to Castle for more information.

"What brings you here so late tonight?" Someone asked.

I jumped.

I looked over my shoulder to see Fury. He was on his way out for the night.

I wanted to tell him everything like I planned. But I doubted he would believe me. "Oh, I wanted to check something." I started walking towards my office.

"You could've done that from home."

"And I was hoping I could talk to Castle. I still have a lot of questions." I said.

I expected to be sent home but instead Fury nodded.

"Good luck with that. He hasn't said a word since the trial. I have to go. Lock up when you're done." he headed towards the door.

"Wait, I have a question. How was Castle able to sneak up on Clint? I've tried at least a dozen times, and...I can't." I said.

Fury chuckled. "He never told you?"

"Told me what?"

"That he suffered a terrible accident when he was very young. It resulted in him losing 80% of his hearing."

"But how can he-"

"He uses hearing aids. He must have tried to get a new battery that day."

"So that's how Castle was able to grab him without him fighting back. Why didn't anyone tell me this?"

"Trust me, Toni, there's a ton of stuff this family of yours is not telling you. They most likely have good reason."

I nodded. Dad had given me the same advice before.

Fury walked out, leaving my by myself. I stood by the door, watching as he dissapeared into the darkness.

At least one of my questions were answered.

It felt so strange to be here alone. This place was always crawling with people.

I walked over to the holding cells were Castle was being kept. I used my key to unlock the door and slipped inside.

Frank looked up and quickly looked back down.

"Hey, I just want to talk." I said softly.

"Nothing to say." Frank mumbled.

"Of course there is. There's always something to talk about." I took a seat across from him. "I want to know why you kidnapped Clint Barton. It must have taken some planning. And you have been under strict observation since your attack at Stark tower. Someone would have intervened."

Frank sighed.

"If you didn't do it, then who did?" I said.

"I told you, it was me!" He said irritability. "Look through the surveillance, you'll see."

"I did, and the last sighting of you was more than twenty years ago."

Frank just sighed.

"And I know it wasn't you who killed my parents." I said.

"I don't even know your parents." Frank said.

"Juan and Alejandra Cortex. Two of S.H.I.E.L.D's best. Prime targets of the Punisher. Any of this sound familiar?"

"Fine, I did meet them. Maybe once." Frank said. "What's this got to do with anything?"

"Everyone's been telling me that there were no eye witnesses the day the were killed. But, I can tell you right now, their wrong."

Frank looked up.

"I was only two years old, yet, I remember everything." I leaned in slightly. "I can see why S.H.I.E.L.D got you and your brother confused, you look so much alike. You talk the same, your about the same height, weight, everything."

"How do you know about my brother?!" Frank spat out before he could stop himself.

So it was his brother.

"I saw him. He looks just like you. But maybe a tad younger." I said. "But I really want to know how it was you who got framed? You weren't even present at the scene."

Before he could answer, the cell door opened and a guard stepped in.

"I'm afraid visiting hours are over." he said.

Tony POV

Just about everyone refused to go to bed until Toni came home, including the twins. They were in bed but got up after they heard that Toni left. It was clear they were beyond tired but they tried their best to fight it.

"Bedtime you two." Steve told them for like the tenth time.

"But we want to wait for mommy." Anthony said.

"She'll be back later, but you two really need to go to bed." Steve said, kneeling down to his level.

"Can you tell us a story, daddy?" Willow asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Sure." Steve stood up. "What do you want to hear?"

"Tell us the story about the soldier. " Anthony said.

"Alright, into bed first." Steve headed upstairs, Anthony at his heels.

Willow jumped down from my lap and ran to join them.

It was about 3:00am when Toni finally came home. Everyone else had gone to bed, I was still up working from my phone.

"You didn't have to wait up for me." She said once she stepped off the elevator.

"Why wouldn't I?" I asked.

She smiled. "Your my dad. I'm gonna go to bed now. Goodnight."

"Wait, did you find out anything with Castle?"

She rolled her eyes. "He still insist that it was him who kidnapped Clint. But I know that's not true. He's covering for someone, and he won't say who it is. I intend to find out."

"What does Fury think?"

"He didn't say much, I think that he's glad Castle 's finally locked up."

"I think we all are. Listen, whatever's going on, just leave it to S.H.I.E.L.D. I don't want you getting hurt."

Toni sighed. "Fine." She headed upstairs.

Toni POV

I went upstairs feeling slightly ashamed. I knew who Castle was covering for. But I everyone seemed happy knowing that I was completely naive to S.H.I.E.L.D enemies. So I had to keep this to myself.

I couldn't sleep at all that night. I wanted answers. If there was another kidnapper/ killer out there, I wanted to find him.

Steve was sleeping. I quietly slipped out of bed and went into the bathroom with my laptop.

I pulled up S.H.I.E.L.D and looked up all the information on Frank Castle. Most of it were things I already knew.

But there was a link at the bottom of the page linked: Classified. I clicked on it. Another link popped up, saying that I needed to type in a password. I just typed in mine.

What's the worst that could happen?

To my surprise, I was allowed access.

This had more information. More about his past, crimes, and missions, wars, enemies, everything I already knew from the artifacts.

But one thing stuck out. It was someone by the name of Eric Castle.

Could this be Fran Castle's brother?

There was a huge possibility. There wasn't much on this Castle- brother.

But when I scrolled down a little bit more, the page had all the information I needed.

He would kidnap his victims and kill anyone who tried to stop him. I felt strangely relieved that Clint was alone when it happened.

But then I realized something, could it be that Eric wanted to kidnap me when I was little? My parents tried to fight him and told me to run. So he killed them.

But Frank was the one framed for the murder. He must have really loved his brother to take the blame. And to keep him a secret.

This caused me to suddenly seek revenge. This man killed my parents and was pretty much getting away with it.

I wanted him dead, even if it meant I had to track him down and kill him myself. But I knew dad would never let me. I had to find a way to get to Eric Castle.

I was up the rest of the morning and some that afternoon, thinking of a plan.


	27. Chapter 27

Toni POV

I decided to leave as soon as possible to find this Eric Castle. But first I had to get past Steve, my dad, and everyone else.

"I gotta go, I'll be back later." I said as I headed towards the elevator.

"Where do you have to go so early?" Dad asked.

"Just...to the mall." I said quickly. "There's a huge sale, I don't want to miss it."

"Who's going with you?" Steve asked coming downstairs, the twins running ahead if him.

"Evangeline." I shrugged.

"Ok, be back by 11:00." Dad said.

I walked into the elevator. I felt kind of bad lying to everyone. Well, not really. I was going to the mall to meet Evangeline, I just didn't want to say why. Hopefully she would come. I planned to explain everything to her when we met and go from there.

Tony POV

"Don't you think she a little old for curfews?" Pepper asked.

"Yeah, but I just want to make sure she comes home."

"What do you mean?" Pepper asked.

"Well she was talking to Fury last night, and she found out some new information about Frank Castle. "

"You don't think she's trying to find answers?" Natasha asked.

"That's what I'm afraid of." I said.

Toni POV

I got into my car and pulled out of the garage. I drove for over to the mall. Evangeline was nowhere in sight. She probably decided to got to work instead. But that was ok, I could do this alone.

I parked the car and stepped out into the crowd.

I figured S.H.I.E.L.D would have someone lurking around, watching me.

Someone was watching me.

A man.

He was pretending to talk on his phone but I could see him glancing over at me every few seconds.

I tried to blend in with the crowd. I walked for a few minutes before stopping in a coffe shop. Nothing suspicious about that.

After I paid, I took a seat at one of the tables and pulled out my laptop. I had to do a little hacking to get directions on where to find Eric Castle. He had a good few warehouses he used. None of them were alike and they were all in either New York or Rhode Island.

I decided to start with the one closest to me, which was only a few hours away.

I left the coffe shop and headed to my car. I took one last glance around before climbing in, the creep was gone. I took out my GPS and typed in the address. No results. I pulled up the map on my phone. That didn't work either. So I had to do this the old fashioned way. I went to a newspaper stand an bought a map.

After a few hours of driving, came to my destination. There was no warehouse, just a new hardware store.

I drove to the second one, which was a good six hours away. It was a vacant lot. I was starting to think if this trip was really worth it. I actually considered heading back.

But then there was a voice at the back of my head, telling me that this man needed to die. He murdered my parents and he needed to pay.

I continued my journey. I drove another four hours, through several cities to my next destination.

Tony POV

"So let me get this straight! Frank Castle is innocent?" Clint asked.

We were at HQ meeting with Fury. He told us about the conversation between him and Toni the night before.

"I did a little research, and his last crime was five years ago. So it couldn't have been him who kidnapped you." Fury said.

"How can you be so sure? If it wasn't him, then how is it that he was the one framed?" Natasha asked.

Fury shrugged. "Toni says she thinks Frank is covering for someone."

"Did she ever find out who it was?" Steve asked.

"She was still here when I left last night. I've got nothing. Has she talked to you at all?" Fury said.

"She got home pretty late last night, she didn't say much. And this morning, she ran off too the mall to meet Evangeline." I said.

Fury looked confused. "Evangeline Gomez clocked in at 7:00 sharp this morning. She hasn't left since."

Now it was my turn to be confused. Why would Toni lie to me? Unless...

I pulled out my phone and dialled her number, it went straight to voicemail. I tried at least six times before I finally got an answer.

"Where are you?" I demanded. "And don't you dare lie to me."

Toni sighed. "On my way to Rhode Island. "

"Why are you leaving the state?"

"It's complicated."

"If your trying to figure out this whole thing with Castle, forget it. You are coming home right now."

"I'm like, a hundred miles away. I can't go back now." She said.

"Pull over and we'll send someone to come find you. I'm gonna get Coulson to trace your phone."

"Dad, I have to do this. This man killed my patents."

"So you know who it is that kidnapped Clint."

"Of course, but it's also something I have to do alone."

"No you don't, pull over right now, I'm on my way." I got up to go get my suit. Coulson had her phone traced, and she was on her way to Rhode Island. Just minutes away from the boarder.

"And that's why the trail stops here." Toni hung up.

"I lost her." Coulson said. "I'm sorry, Stark."

"That's fine. So we know our target is out of the state." I said.

"Well, there's only one way to be sure." Natasha said.

Toni POV

I had just hung up my phone. Dad was coming to look for me. I didn't want him following me. I didn't want him to get hurt.

This was something I had to do alone since it hit me on a more personal level.

I crossed the boarder into Rhode Island. I just had a few more stops to go.

Something about this whole thing angered me. I didn't know why, it just did.

I floored the gas to catch up with the traffic.

Tony POV

"It's simple. Just tell us what you two talked about last night." Fury said sternly to Frank Castle.

"She made me promise not to tell." Frank grumbles.

"Castle, she could be driving straight to her death. Just tell us." I said

He sighed. "I didn't tell her anything. But...I"

"What?" I asked.

Frank only shook his head. "You won't believe me."

"Try me." Fury said.

"I...have a brother."

The room was silent.

"You, what?" Fury asked.

"I have a younger brother." Frank said.

"How come you never said anything before?" Natasha asked.

"I wanted to keep him a secret. He didn't really have any easy life. I promised I would do anything to protect him."

"Well can you tell us where he is?" I asked.

Frank shrugged. "We haven't spoken in years. I have no idea where he could be."

We walked out of the cell.

"Well he was no help." Natasha grumbled.

We went back into the meeting room where Steve and Clint were waiting.

"Find out anything?" Clint asked.

"Nothing." Fury said.

Nobody said anything for a minute.

"Well, I talked to Evangeline, and she said that Toni did call her this morning and asked if she wanted to hang out at the mall. But she didn't say why." Steve said.

So maybe Toni didn't lie about where she was going. But why was she on her way to Rhode Island?

"Do you think you can pull up Frank's profile and find out anything?" I asked Coulson.

"I can try." He pulled out his laptop and started typing. He had results within minutes. He stopped typing. "No, that can't be right."

"What is it?" I asked.

"There is some classified information on Frank Castle' s brother. It has all his information, including where to find him. I don't even have access."

"You don't think she hacked S.H.I.E.L.D?" Steve asked.

"She must have! How else will she know where to go. She's on her way to Rhode Island, that's where he is right now! You have to go find her before Frank's brother does!" Coulson said.


	28. Chapter 28

Toni POV

When I reached the next destination, I was greeted by a group of armed men. I stayed a few feet back, but the approached the car anyway.

The car was surrounded before I could pull away. One of them tells me to roll down the window.

I floored the gas pedal, and drove off. That was way too close.

That could have been the right one. But I didn't see anyone with a death symbol on their shirt. Maybe Eric Castle was different.

I came to the conclusion that those men were a bunch of hoodlums. I brushed that off and continued driving.

Suddenly another car slammed into mine. I spun out of control before crashing into a pole.

It took me a minute to get over the crash. I found that I was uninjured, but trapped. With great effort, I was able to free myself from the seatbelt.

I used my elbow to break the window. With great effort, I was able to climb out. I felt the broken glass slice my arm, but I ignored it.

My car was almost completely totalled. Dad was going to kill me. But that wasn't half my concern.

I salvaged a few things and started walking, following the map. I was slightly glad I bought it. My GPS was smashed and my phone was out of reach.

A few miles shouldn't be too bad.

Tony POV

I was in my suit searching for my daughter. There was no sign of her.

"Anything yet?" Clint asked.

"Nothing. "

I continued to search.

"Stark, we got something." Steve said.

"You found her?" I asked eagerly.

"No, we found her car." Natasha said.

I traced where they were. When I came to the scene, I seen Toni's car smashed against a pole.

But she was gone.

"He took her!" Clint was outraged when he saw the blood on the broken window.

It was only the passenger's side that was damaged, so hopefully she wasn't hurt too bad.

"Hang on." Steve said. He knelt to the ground.

At first we didn't know what he was trying to see.

But looking closely, we saw he was looking at something. It was footprints.

If they were Toni's, that meant that she wasn't hurt from the accident.

"Ok, she couldn't have gone far." Steve said as he stood. "We have a better chance if we just follow these."

It would take longer, but at least we knew where we were going.

Toni POV

I woke up. Even though I don't remember falling asleep. The last thing I remember doing was...walking? But...where?

When I tried to stand, I realized that I was tied up to a chair rather tightly. The ropes peeled away a layer of my skin every time I moved.

The room I was in was completely dark. I couldn't tell where I was or how to get out.

"Well, look who finally woke up." Someone said in the dark room.

I looked around but saw no one.

A single light clicked on. I saw a man standing in front of me. He looked just like Frank, only younger. This had to be Eric Castle.

"Eric." I said softly, still not fully awake.

"You know my name." Eric gave me an evil grin.

"Of course. "

"But the question is, how? My brother promised he would never tell my secret."

"I found you on my own. He wouldn't tell me."

"Lies! He betrayed me!"

"No he didn't. "

"We'll you couldn't have found me on your own."

I sighed. "I had to hack S.H.I.E.L.D."

"It makes sense now. They have been trying to find me for at least twenty years."

"You murdered two innocent people. S.H.I.E.L.D agents. Of course they would come after you."

"Oh they were far from innocent. All I wanted was to talk, and they tried to kill me."

"So you killed them to save yourself. " I said softly.

Eric nodded. "Why do you care anyway?"

"Because those agents you killed were my parents." I said, but immediately regretted it.

Eric slowly turned towards me.

"I knew you were a Cortex. The very last one."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, there was a reason I've been hunting you down. Your parents ruined my legacy by exposing my crimes. No one ever took me seriously anymore. I lost everything."

"Well that's no reason to kill them." I snapped.

"You don't understand. I was offered a deal if I got rid of everyone under the name of Cortex. But up until now, that has been impossible." He smiled at me.

I knew exactly what he planned to do, he was going to torture me if not worst.

"We'll talk later." Eric said before leaving the room.

I felt a sharp sting in my back before everything went black.

Tony POV

I followed Toni's footprints, along with some others, to at an old-looking twenty story building. I started to rush inside, eager to find my daughter.

"Stark, wait for backup." Coulson said through the earpiece.

"Can't, my daughter's in there." I said.

"Wait for backup." he said again.

It seemed to take forever before everyone finally came.

"What took you guys so long?!" I demanded.

"Not all of us can just fly at the speed of light, Stark." Natasha said.

"There are twenty floors in this building, she can be on any one of them. We will search each of the floors carefully before moving on to the next one." Steve said. "This man, no doubt, has many armed men. Be careful. Let's go!"

We walked inside the building. The first floor was empty so we moved on to the second floor. Still nothing. Third floor had just a few men. We easily snuck past them and onto the fourth floor.

After the sixth floor, we were starting to doubt if Toni was even here.

"The profile led us here, Stark." Clint said. "We can only look."

I was losing hope, but we continued the search.

Toni POV

When I woke up, it felt like I had been hit by a ton of bricks.

Eric was standing in front of me.

"What did you give me?" I asked groggily.

Eric shrugged. "Just some truth serum."

"I thought you were going to kill me."

"I was." Eric shrugged. "But then I remembered hearing that you got some big promotion at S.H.I.E.L.D and thought you might be of some value to me."

"I don't know anything, I just work there. And I didn't get any promotion!"

"Well, let's see what you do know. First of all, where did you get your information about me?"

"I told you, I hacked S.H.I.E.L.D."

"How did they get my information?"

"I don't know."

"Tell me." Eric said sternly.

"I don't know how Director Fury got it."

Eric sighed. "Give her another dose."

"Their coming for me!" I said before everything went black again.


End file.
